A two dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport model for dam break based on finite volume method with quadtree grid

This study aims to develop a robust, accurate and computationally efficient hydrodynamic and sediment transport model for darn break flows. The two dimensional shallow water equations are resolved based on the finite volume method with an unstructured quadtree mesh. The sediment transport and bed evolution modules are coupled with hydrodynamic module to predict simultaneously the hydrodynamics, sediment concentrations and morphological changes. The interface flux is computed by the HLL approximate Riemann solver with second order accuracy. The effects of pressure and gravity are included in source term in this model, which can simplify the computation and eliminate numerical imbalance between source and flux terms. For dam break flows occurring in complicated geometries, the quadtree rectangular mesh is used to refine the interesting area and important part. The model is first verified against results from laboratory experiments, existing numerical models and real life case. It is then used to simulate dam break flows over a mobile bed to investigate the bed evolution. The results are compared with experimental data and field data with good agreement. The method is simple, efficient, and conservative. It shows promise for handling hydrodynamic simulation and sediment transport for a wide range of dam break flows. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.