A Hybrid Method to Solve Shallow Water Flows with Horizontal Density Gradients

In this work, a model for shallow water flows that accounts for the effects of horizontal density fluctuations is presented and derived. While the density is advected by the flow, a two-way feedback between the density gradients and the time evolution of the fluid is ensured through the pressure and source terms in the momentum equations. The model can be derived by vertically averaging the Euler equations while still allowing for density fluctuations in horizontal directions. The approach differs from multi-layer shallow water flows where two or more layers are considered, each of them having their own depth, velocity and constant density. A Roe-type upwind scheme is developed and the Roe matrices are computed systematically by going from the conservative to the quasi-linear form at a discrete level. Properties of the model are analyzed. The system is hyperbolic with two shock-wave families and a contact discontinuity associated to interfaces of regions with density jumps. This new field is degenerate with pressure and velocity as the corresponding Riemann invariants. We show that in some parameter regimes numerically recognizing such invariants across contact discontinuities is important to correctly compute the flow near those interfaces. We present a numerical algorithm that correctly captures all waves with a hybrid strategy. The method integrates the Riemann invariants near contact discontinuities and switches back to the conserved variables away from it to properly resolve shock waves. This strategy can be applied to any numerical scheme. Numerical solutions for a variety of tests in one and two dimensions are shown to illustrate the advantages of the strategy and the merits of the scheme.