| Abstract: | A least‐squares finite element method for the shallow water equations with viscosity parameter μ > 0 is proposed and studied. The shallow water equations are reformulated as a first order system by adding a new variable for the velocity flux. The reformulated first order system is combined with a characteristic‐based time discretization and a least squares approach. For the correct boundary treatment in the limit case μ → 0, a trace theorem is presented. For the numerical computation of the velocity, the finite element spaces introduced recently by Mardal, Tai and Winther (SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis 40, pp. 1605–1631) are used. The degrees of freedom in these spaces can be identified with the normal and tangential components, respectively. Numerical results for some test examples are shown. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
