Vertical discretization in tidal flow simulations

André B. Fortunato, António M. Baptista

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    10 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    We propose an empirical law for vertical nodal placement in tidal simulations that depends on a single parameter p. The influence of dimensionless numbers on the optimal value of p is analysed through a series of numerical experiments for an individual vertical and a single value of p is found to be adequate for all cases. The proposed law can lead to gains in accuracy of over two orders of magnitude relative to a uniform grid and compares favourably with non-uniform grids previously used in the literature. In practical applications the most effective use of this law may require each vertical to have a different number of nodes. Criteria for the distribution of the total number of nodes among different verticals are also proposed, based on the concept of equalizing errors across the domain. The usefulness of the overall approach is demonstrated through a two-dimensional laterally averaged application to a synthetic estuary.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)815-834
    Number of pages20
    JournalInternational Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids
    Volume22
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    StatePublished - May 15 1996

    Keywords

    • Localized sigma co-ordinates
    • Numerical experimentation
    • Sigma co-ordinates
    • Tidal flow
    • Vertical discretization

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Computational Mechanics
    • Mechanics of Materials
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Computer Science Applications
    • Applied Mathematics

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