A new r‐ratio formulation for TVD schemes for vertex‐centered FVM on an unstructured mesh

The r‐ratio is a parameter that measures the local monotonicity, by which a number of high‐resolution and TVD schemes can be formed. A number of r‐ratio formulations for TVD schemes have been presented over the last few decades to solve the transport equation in shallow waters based on the finite volume method (FVM). However, unlike structured meshes, the coordinate directions are not clearly defined on an unstructured mesh; therefore, some r‐ratio formulations have been established by approximating the solute concentration at virtual nodes, which may be estimated from different assumptions. However, some formulations may introduce either oscillation or diffusion behavior within the vertex‐centered (VC) framework. In this paper, a new r‐ratio formulation, applied to an unstructured grid in the VC framework, is proposed and compared with the traditional r‐ratio formulations. Through seven commonly used benchmark tests, it is shown that the newly proposed r‐ratio formulation obtains better results than the traditional ones with less numerical diffusion and spurious oscillation. Moreover, three commonly used TVD schemes—SUPERBEE, MINMOD, and MUSCL—and two high‐order schemes—SOU and QUICK—are implemented and compared using the new r‐ratio formulation. The new r‐ratio formulation is shown to be sufficiently comprehensive to permit the general implementation of a high‐resolution scheme within the VC framework. Finally, the sensitivity test for different grid types demonstrates the good adaptability of this new r‐ratio formulation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.