A robust central scheme for the shallow water flows with an abrupt topography based on modified hydrostatic reconstructions

We study a second-order central scheme for the shallow water flows with a discontinuous bottom topography based on modified hydrostatic reconstructions (HRs). The first HR scheme was proposed in Audusse et al, which may be missing the effect of the large discontinuous bottom topography. We introduce a modified HR method to cope with this numerical difficulty. The new scheme is well-balanced for still water solutions and can guarantee the positivity of the water depth. Finally, several numerical results of classical problems of the shallow water equations confirmed these properties of the new scheme. Especially, the new scheme yields superior results for the shallow water downhill flow over a step.