Time‐accurate stabilized finite‐element model for weakly nonlinear and weakly dispersive water waves

Introduction of a time‐accurate stabilized finite‐element approximation for the numerical investigation of weakly nonlinear and weakly dispersive water waves is presented in this paper. To make the time approximation match the order of accuracy of the spatial representation of the linear triangular elements by the Galerkin finite‐element method, the fourth‐order time integration of implicit multistage Padé method is used for the development of the numerical scheme. The streamline‐upwind Petrov–Galerkin (SUPG) method with crosswind diffusion is employed to stabilize the scheme and suppress the spurious oscillations, usually common in the numerical computation of convection‐dominated flow problems. The performance of numerical stabilization and accuracy is addressed. Treatments of various boundary conditions, including the open boundary conditions, the perfect reflecting boundary conditions along boundaries with irregular geometry, are also described. Numerical results showing the comparisons with analytical solutions, experimental measurements, and other published numerical results are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐order Petrov–Galerkin finite element method for the classical Boussinesq wave model

A high‐order Petrov–Galerkin finite element scheme is presented to solve the one‐dimensional depth‐integrated classical Boussinesq equations for weakly non‐linear and weakly dispersive waves. Finite elements are used both in the space and the time domains. The shape functions are bilinear in space–time, whereas the weighting functions are linear in space and quadratic in time, with C⁰‐continuity. Dispersion correction and a highly selective dissipation mechanism are introduced through additional streamline upwind terms in the weighting functions. An implicit, conditionally stable, one‐step predictor–corrector time integration scheme results. The accuracy and stability of the non‐linear discrete equations are investigated by means of a local Taylor series expansion. A linear spectral analysis is used for the full characterization of the predictor–corrector inner iterations. Based on the order of the analytical terms of the Boussinesq model and on the order of the numerical discretization, it is concluded that the scheme is fourth‐order accurate in terms of phase velocity. The dissipation term is third order only affecting the shortest wavelengths. A numerical convergence analysis showed a second‐order convergence rate in terms of both element size and time step. Four numerical experiments are addressed and their results are compared with analytical solutions or experimental data available in the literature: the propagation of a solitary wave, the oscillation of a flat bottom closed basin, the oscillation of a non‐flat bottom closed basin, and the propagation of a periodic wave over a submerged bar. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A finite element method for the two‐dimensional extended Boussinesq equations

A new numerical method for Nwogu's (ASCE Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering 1993; 119 :618)two‐dimensional extended Boussinesq equations is presented using a linear triangular finite element spatial discretization coupled with a sophisticated adaptive time integration package. The authors have previously presented a finite element method for the one‐dimensional form of these equations (M. Walkley and M. Berzins (International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids 1999; 29 (2):143)) and this paper describes the extension of these ideas to the two‐dimensional equations and the application of the method to complex geometries using unstructured triangular grids. Computational results are presented for two standard test problems and a realistic harbour model. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

QALE‐FEM for modelling 3D overturning waves

A further development of the QALE‐FEM (quasi‐arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element method) based on a fully nonlinear potential theory is presented in this paper. This development enables the QALE‐FEM to deal with three‐dimensional (3D) overturning waves over complex seabeds, which have not been considered since the method was devised by the authors of this paper in their previous works (J. Comput. Phys. 2006; 212 :52–72; J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2009; 78 :713–756). In order to tackle challenges associated with 3D overturning waves, two new numerical techniques are suggested. They are the techniques for moving the mesh and for calculating the fluid velocity near overturning jets, respectively. The developed method is validated by comparing its numerical results with experimental data and results from other numerical methods available in the literature. Good agreement is achieved. The computational efficiency of this method is also investigated for this kind of wave, which shows that the QALE‐FEM can be many times faster than other methods based on the same theory. Furthermore, 3D overturning waves propagating over a non‐symmetrical seabed or multiple reefs are simulated using the method. Some of these results have not been found elsewhere to the best of our knowledge. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite‐element/level‐set/operator‐splitting (FELSOS) approach for computing two‐fluid unsteady flows with free moving interfaces

The present work is devoted to the study on unsteady flows of two immiscible viscous fluids separated by free moving interface. Our goal is to elaborate a unified strategy for numerical modelling of two‐fluid interfacial flows, having in mind possible interface topology changes (like merger or break‐up) and realistically wide ranges for physical parameters of the problem. The proposed computational approach essentially relies on three basic components: the finite element method for spatial approximation, the operator‐splitting for temporal discretization and the level‐set method for interface representation. We show that the finite element implementation of the level‐set approach brings some additional benefits as compared to the standard, finite difference level‐set realizations. In particular, the use of finite elements permits to localize the interface precisely, without introducing any artificial parameters like the interface thickness; it also allows to maintain the second‐order accuracy of the interface normal, curvature and mass conservation. The operator‐splitting makes it possible to separate all major difficulties of the problem and enables us to implement the equal‐order interpolation for the velocity and pressure. Diverse numerical examples including simulations of bubble dynamics, bifurcating jet flow and Rayleigh–Taylor instability are presented to validate the computational method. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A parametric finite‐difference method for shallow sea waves

This paper presents a parametric finite‐difference scheme concerning the numerical solution of the one‐dimensional Boussinesq‐type set of equations, as they were introduced by Peregrine (J. Fluid Mech. 1967; 27 (4)) in the case of waves relatively long with small amplitudes in water of varying depth. The proposed method, which can be considered as a generalization of the Crank‐Nickolson method, aims to investigate alternative approaches in order to improve the accuracy of analogous methods known from bibliography. The resulting linear finite‐difference scheme, which is analysed for stability using the Fourier method, has been applied successfully to a problem used by Beji and Battjes (Coastal Eng. 1994; 23 : 1–16), giving numerical results which are in good agreement with the corresponding results given by MIKE 21 BW (User Guide. In: MIKE 21, Wave Modelling, User Guide. 2002; 271–392) developed by DHI Software. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐order mass‐lumping procedure for B‐spline collocation method with application to incompressible flow simulations

This paper presents new developments of the staggered spline collocation method for cost‐effective solution to the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Maximal decoupling of the velocity and the pressure is obtained by using the fractional step method of Gresho and Chan, allowing the solution to sparse elliptic problems only. In order to preserve the high‐accuracy of the B‐spline method, this fractional step scheme is used in association with a sparse approximation to the inverse of the consistent mass matrix. Such an approximation is constructed from local spline interpolation method, and represents a high‐order generalization of the mass‐lumping technique of the finite‐element method. A numerical investigation of the accuracy and the computational efficiency of the resulting semi‐consistent spline collocation schemes is presented. These schemes generate a stable and accurate unsteady Navier–Stokes solver, as assessed by benchmark computations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The two‐grid stabilization of equal‐order finite elements for the stokes equations

This work presents a two‐grid stabilized method of equal‐order finite elements for the Stokes problems. This method only offsets the discrete pressure space by the residual of pressure on two grids to circumvent the discrete Babu?ka–Brezzi condition. The method can be done locally in a two‐grid approach without stabilization parameter by projecting the pressure onto a finite element space based on coarse mesh. Also, it leads to a linear system with minimal additional cost in implement. Optimal error estimates are obtained. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to show stability and accuracy properties of the method. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A particle finite element method applied to long wave run‐up

This paper presents a Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element formulation for solving fluid dynamics problems with moving boundaries and employs the method to long wave run‐up. The method is based on a set of Lagrangian particles which serve as moving nodes for the finite element mesh. Nodes at the moving shoreline are identified by the alpha shape concept which utilizes the distance from neighbouring nodes in different directions. An efficient triangulation technique is then used for the mesh generation at each time step. In order to validate the numerical method the code has been compared with analytical solutions and a preexisting finite difference model. The main focus of our investigation is to assess the numerical method through simulations of three‐dimensional dam break and long wave run‐up on curved beaches. Particularly the method is put to test for cases where different shoreline segments connect and produce a computational domain surrounding dry regions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐order fully explicit flux‐form semi‐Lagrangian shallow‐water model

A new approach is proposed for constructing a fully explicit third‐order mass‐conservative semi‐Lagrangian scheme for simulating the shallow‐water equations on an equiangular cubed‐sphere grid. State variables are staggered with velocity components stored pointwise at nodal points and mass variables stored as element averages. In order to advance the state variables in time, we first apply an explicit multi‐step time‐stepping scheme to update the velocity components and then use a semi‐Lagrangian advection scheme to update the height field and tracer variables. This procedure is chosen to ensure consistency between dry air mass and tracers, which is particularly important in many atmospheric chemistry applications. The resulting scheme is shown to be competitive with many existing numerical methods on a suite of standard test cases and demonstrates slightly improved performance over other high‐order finite‐volume models. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New stabilized finite element method for time‐dependent incompressible flow problems

A new stabilized finite element method is considered for the time‐dependent Stokes problem, based on the lowest‐order P₁?P₀ and Q₁?P₀ elements that do not satisfy the discrete inf–sup condition. The new stabilized method is characterized by the features that it does not require approximation of the pressure derivatives, specification of mesh‐dependent parameters and edge‐based data structures, always leads to symmetric linear systems and hence can be applied to existing codes with a little additional effort. The stability of the method is derived under some regularity assumptions. Error estimates for the approximate velocity and pressure are obtained by applying the technique of the Galerkin finite element method. Some numerical results are also given, which show that the new stabilized method is highly efficient for the time‐dependent Stokes problem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The improved space–time conservation element and solution element scheme for two‐dimensional dam‐break flow simulation

A new numerical scheme, namely space–time conservation element and solution element (CE/SE) method, has been used for the solution of the two‐dimensional (2D) dam‐break problem. Distinguishing from the well‐established traditional numerical methods (such as characteristics, finite difference, finite element, and finite‐volume methods), the CE/SE scheme has many non‐traditional features in both concept and methodology: space and time are treated in a unified way, which is the most important characteristic for the CE/SE method; the CEs and SEs are introduced, both local and global flux conservations in space and time rather than space only are enforced; an explicit scheme with a stagger grid is adopted. Furthermore, this scheme is robust and easy to implement. In this paper, an improved CE/SE scheme is extended to solve the 2D shallow water equations with the source terms, which usually plays a critical role in dam‐break flows. To demonstrate the accuracy, robustness and efficiency of the improved CE/SE method, both 1D and 2D dam‐break problems are simulated numerically, and the results are consistent with either the analytical solutions or experimental results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation of high‐order compact finite‐difference method to parabolized Navier–Stokes schemes

The numerical solution to the parabolized Navier–Stokes (PNS) and globally iterated PNS (IPNS) equations for accurate computation of hypersonic axisymmetric flowfields is obtained by using the fourth‐order compact finite‐difference method. The PNS and IPNS equations in the general curvilinear coordinates are solved by using the implicit finite‐difference algorithm of Beam and Warming type with a high‐order compact accuracy. A shock‐fitting procedure is utilized in both compact PNS and IPNS schemes to obtain accurate solutions in the vicinity of the shock. The main advantage of the present formulation is that the basic flow variables and their first and second derivatives are simultaneously computed with the fourth‐order accuracy. The computations are carried out for a benchmark case: hypersonic axisymmetric flow over a blunt cone at Mach 8. A sensitivity study is performed for the basic flowfield, including profiles and their derivatives obtained from the fourth‐order compact PNS and IPNS solutions, and the effects of grid size and numerical dissipation term used are discussed. The present results for the flowfield variables and also their derivatives are compared with those of other basic flow models to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. The present work represents the first known application of a high‐order compact finite‐difference method to the PNS schemes, which are computationally more efficient than Navier–Stokes solutions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solution of the 2‐D shallow water equations with source terms in surface elevation splitting form

A vertex‐centred finite‐volume/finite‐element method (FV/FEM) is developed for solving 2‐D shallow water equations (SWEs) with source terms written in a surface elevation splitting form, which balances the flux gradients and source terms. The method is implemented on unstructured grids and the numerical scheme is based on a second‐order MUSCL‐like upwind Godunov FV discretization for inviscid fluxes and a classical Galerkin FE discretization for the viscous gradients and source terms. The main advantages are: (1) the discretization of SWE written in surface elevation splitting form satisfies the exact conservation property (??‐Property) naturally; (2) the simple centred‐type discretization can be used for the source terms; (3) the method is suitable for both steady and unsteady shallow water problems; and (4) complex topography can be handled based on unstructured grids. The accuracy of the method was verified for both steady and unsteady problems, including discontinuous cases. The results indicate that the new method is accurate, simple, and robust. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A finite element method for the one‐dimensional extended Boussinesq equations

A new finite element method for Nwogu's (O. Nwogu, ASCE J. Waterw., Port, Coast., Ocean Eng., 119 , 618–638 (1993)) one‐dimensional extended Boussinesq equations is presented using a linear element spatial discretisation method coupled with a sophisticated adaptive time integration package. The accuracy of the scheme is compared to that of an existing finite difference method (G. Wei and J.T. Kirby, ASCE J. Waterw., Port, Coast., Ocean Eng., 121 , 251–261 (1995)) by considering the truncation error at a node. Numerical tests with solitary and regular waves propagating in variable depth environments are compared with theoretical and experimental data. The accuracy of the results confirms the analytical prediction and shows that the new approach competes well with existing finite difference methods. The finite element formulation is shown to enable the method to be extended to irregular meshes in one dimension and has the potential to allow for extension to the important practical case of unstructured triangular meshes in two dimensions. This latter case is discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interface‐preserving level‐set reinitialization for DG‐FEM

This paper presents a contribution to level‐set reinitialization in the context of discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods. We focus on high‐order polynomials for the discretization and level set geometries, which are comparable to the element size. In contrast to hyperbolic and geometric reinitialization techniques, our method relies on solving a nonlinear elliptic PDE iteratively. We critically compare two different variants of the algorithm experimentally in numerical studies. The results demonstrate that the method is stable for nontrivial test cases and shows high‐order accuracy. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two‐level finite element method with a stabilizing subgrid for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

We consider the Galerkin finite element method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in two dimensions. The domain is discretized into a set of regular triangular elements and the finite‐dimensional spaces employed consist of piecewise continuous linear interpolants enriched with the residual‐free bubble functions. To find the bubble part of the solution, a two‐level finite element method with a stabilizing subgrid of a single node is described, and its application to the Navier–Stokes equation is displayed. Numerical approximations employing the proposed algorithm are presented for three benchmark problems. The results show that the proper choice of the subgrid node is crucial in obtaining stable and accurate numerical approximations consistent with the physical configuration of the problem at a cheap computational cost. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A higher‐order Boussinesq‐type model with moving bottom boundary: applications to submarine landslide tsunami waves

A two‐dimensional depth‐integrated numerical model is developed using a fourth‐order Boussinesq approximation for an arbitrary time‐variable bottom boundary and is applied for submarine‐landslide‐generated waves. The mathematical formulation of model is an extension of (4,4) Padé approximant for moving bottom boundary. The mathematical formulations are derived based on a higher‐order perturbation analysis using the expanded form of velocity components. A sixth‐order multi‐step finite difference method is applied for spatial discretization and a sixth‐order Runge–Kutta method is applied for temporal discretization of the higher‐order depth‐integrated governing equations and boundary conditions. The present model is validated using available three‐dimensional experimental data and a good agreement is obtained. Moreover, the present higher‐order model is compared with fully potential three‐dimensional models as well as Boussinesq‐type multi‐layer models in several cases and the differences are discussed. The high accuracy of the present numerical model in considering the nonlinearity effects and frequency dispersion of waves is proven particularly for waves generated in intermediate and deeper water area. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stabilized finite element method for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using a hierarchical basis

Stabilized finite element methods have been shown to yield robust, accurate numerical solutions to both the compressible and incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for laminar and turbulent flows. The present work focuses on the application of higher‐order, hierarchical basis functions to the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using a stabilized finite element method. It is shown on a variety of problems that the most cost‐effective simulations (in terms of CPU time, memory, and disk storage) can be obtained using higher‐order basis functions when compared with the traditional linear basis. In addition, algorithms will be presented for the efficient implementation of these methods within the traditional finite element data structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A curvature‐free multiphase flow solver via surface stress‐based formulation

In this note, we show the link between the classical continuous surface stress and continuous surface force approaches together with special finite element method techniques toward a fully implicit level set method. Based on a modified surface stress formulation, neither normals nor curvature has to be explicitly calculated. The method is space‐dimension independent. Prototypical numerical tests of benchmarking character for a rising 2D bubble are provided for validating the accuracy of this new approach. We show additionally that the explicit redistancing can be avoided using a nonlinear PDE so that a fully implicit and even monolithic formulation of the corresponding multiphase problem gets feasible.