Analysis of the numerical solution of the shallow water equations

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the analysis of various methods for the numerical solution of the shallow water equations along with the stability of these methods. Most of the thesis is concerned with the background and formaulation of the shallow water equations. The derivation of the basic equations will be given, in the primative variable and vorticity divergence formulation. Also the shallow water equations will be written in spherical coordinates. Two main types of methods used in approximating differential equations of this nature will be discussed. The two schemes are finite difference method (FDM) and the finite element method (FEM). After presenting the shallow water equations in several formulations, some examples will be presented. The use of the Fourier transform to find the solution of a semidiscrete analog of the shallow water equations is also demonstrated.