Smoothed particle hydrodynamics hybrid model of ice-jam formation and release

This article presents a numerical public domain model, SPIKI, to simulate water and ice dynamics during ice-jam formation and river breakup events. The model has two independent coupled components. The first is a one-dimensional (1-D) finite volume Saint-Venant hydrodynamic model, whereas the second is a two-dimensional (2-D) model called smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) ice-rubble model that simulates ice dynamics. Application to an idealized test case demonstrated the effect of a variable angle of internal friction and the effect of ice-bank friction during the formation of an ice jam. Application to an actual event on the Saint John River in New Brunswick, Canada reproduced, within the certainty of the observed data, an observed ice-jam profile and the rise in water level and discharge after the release of the jam.