Localized Sigma Coordinates for the Vertical Structure of Hydrodynamic Models

by Angr? B. Fortunato, Oregon Graduate Inst of Science, & Technology, Portland, United States,
Ant?nio M. Baptista, Oregon Graduate Inst of Science, & Technology, Portland, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Estuarine and Coastal Modeling

Abstract:

This paper analyzes the use of localized sigma coordinates in the numerical solution of the vertical structure of coastal flows. We show, through a combination of truncation error analysis and 2D (vertical) numerical experimentation, that localized sigma coordinates have two important advantages over the more traditional domain-wide sigma coordinates: the evaluation of horizontal gradients of density in the presence of steep bottom slopes is more accurate, and the vertical discretization can be freely placed where it is needed. These two advantages appear to far out weight, for practical situations, the restrictions imposed by the fact that the localized sigma coordinates are only conditionally consistent.

Subject Headings: Numerical models | Errors (statistics) | Structural models | Structural analysis | Numerical analysis | Hydrologic models | Hydrodynamics

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