Abstract: | The present paper makes use of a wave equation formulation of the primitive shallow water equations to simulate one-dimensional free surface flow. A numerical formulation of the boundary element method is then developed to solve the wave continuity equation using a time-dependent fundamental solution, while an explicit finite difference scheme is used to derive velocities from the primitive momentum equation. One-dimensional free surface flows in open channels are treated and the results compared with analytical and numerical solutions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |