Modelling coastal barrier breaching flows with well-balanced shock-capturing technique

This paper presents a coastal hydrodynamic model for simulating coastal barrier breaching flows through an inlet which are mostly induced by extreme hydrological conditions such as storm/hurricane surges, waves and tides. In order to simulate wave field and wave-induced flow field in a coast, a wave action spectral model is coupled with a hydrodynamic model. The Godunov-type shock-capturing technique is used in the hydrodynamic model to simulate the supercritical flows and shocks driven by the extreme storm conditions. The hydrodynamic model is based on the solution of depth-averaged non-linear shallow water equations with all physical forcings common to coastal hydrological conditions so that it is capable of simulating multiple flow regimes, in which subcritical, transcritical, or supercritical flows may happen. The bed slope terms in the system of equations are treated in such a way that exact balance between flux gradient and bed slope terms is achieved under still water condition. The wave model readily provides the radiation stresses that represent the shortwave-averaged forcings in a water column and take into account wave-induced nearshore currents. In the coupled system, the models are operated systematically. The coastal hydrodynamic model is shown to accurately reproduce analytical and benchmark numerical solutions. To further test the accuracy of the model, flow through a coastal inlet with a storm surge is simulated and the results are compared with an established coastal flow model. Finally, the model is examined to simulate a severe storm surge that develops supercritical flows and the results are found to be encouraging. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.