Discontinuous Galerkin methods for a dispersive wave hydro-morphodynamic model with bed-load transport

Abstract

A dispersive wave hydro-morphodynamic model coupling the Green–Naghdi equations (the hydrodynamic part) with the sediment continuity Exner equation (the morphodynamic part) is presented. Numerical solution algorithms based on discontinuous Galerkin finite element discretizations of the model are proposed. The algorithms include both coupled and decoupled approaches for solving the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic parts simultaneously and separately from each other, respectively. The Strang operator splitting technique is employed to treat the dispersive terms separately, and it provides the ability to ignore the dispersive terms in specified regions, such as surf zones. Algorithms that can handle wetting–drying and detect wave breaking are presented. The numerical solution algorithms are validated with numerical experiments to demonstrate the ability of the algorithms to accurately resolve hydrodynamics of solitary and regular waves, and morphodynamic changes induced by such waves. The results indicate that the model has the potential to be used in studies of coastal morphodynamics driven by dispersive water waves, given that the hydrodynamic part resolves the water motion and dispersive wave effects with sufficient accuracy up to swash zones, and the morphodynamic model can capture the major features of bed erosion and deposition.