A novel implicit method for coastal hydrodynamics modeling: application to the Arcachon lagoon

The present Note reports on numerical modeling of shallow flows in coastal areas. Successful numerical simulations of such flows should be able to cope with strong irregularities of the bathymetry and to reproduce the covering/uncovering (wetting/drying) of tidal flats due to the tidal oscillations of the free surface. Also, adoption of large time steps is necessary to simulate phenomena which last actually several days or months. In the present study, a new numerical model based on an implicit resolution of the shallow water equations is proposed. A penalty method has been employed for numerical treatment of dry zones emerging during the wetting and drying processes. The capability of the present model has been verified by comparison with standard test cases. Further applications and comparisons have been also carried out to simulate the tidal propagation in the Arcachon lagoon. To cite this article: A. Le Dissez et al., C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).