A Two-Step Lagrange–Galerkin Scheme for the Shallow Water Equations with a Transmission Boundary Condition and Its Application to the Bay of Bengal Region—Part I: Flat Bottom Topography

Abstract

A two-step Lagrange–Galerkin scheme for the shallow water equations with a transmission boundary condition (TBC) is presented. First, we show the experimental order of convergence to see the second-order accuracy in time realized by the two-step methods for conservative and non-conservative material derivatives along the trajectory of fluid particles. Second, we observe the effect of the TBC in a simple domain, and the artificial reflection is removed significantly when the wave touches the TBC. Third, we apply the scheme to a practical domain with islands, namely, the Bay of Bengal region, and observe the effect of the TBC again for the practical domain; the artificial reflections are removed significantly from the transmission boundaries on open sea boundaries. We also study the effect of a position of an open sea boundary with the TBC and reveal that it is sufficiently small to neglect. The numerical results in this study show that the scheme has the following properties: (i) the same advantages of Lagrange–Galerkin methods (the CFL-free robustness for convection-dominated problems and the symmetry of the matrices for the system of linear equations); (ii) second-order accuracy in time by the two-step methods; (iii) mass preservation of the function for the water level from the reference height (until the contact with the transmission boundaries of the wave); and (iv) no significant artificial reflection from the transmission boundaries. The numerical results by the scheme presented in this paper are for the flat bottom topography of the domain. In the next part of this work, Part II, the scheme will be applied to rapidly varying bottom surfaces and a real bottom topography of the Bay of Bengal region.