Multilayer methods for geophysical flows: modelling and numerical approximation.

Esta tesis se enmarca en el ámbito de la Matemática Aplicada y la Mecánica de Fluidos Computacional. Concretamente, aborda el modelado matemático y la simulación numérica de flujos geofísicos mediante modelos multicapa. Las contribuciones principales se encuentran en los Capítulos 2, 3 y 4. En el Capítulo 1 se revisa brevemente la aproximación multicapa para las ecuaciones de Navier-Stokes con viscosidad constante, así como el procedimiento para obtener un modelo multicapa. Las avalanchas granulares se han estudiado principalmente mediante modelos integrados. Sin embargo, esos modelos no reproducen variaciones en tiempo de los per les de velocidad. En el Capítulo 2 se presenta un modelo multicapa para avalanchas granulares secas considerando una viscosidad variable de nida por la ley constitutiva (I). En este modelo no se prescribe el per l normal de velocidad horizontal, lo que permite reproducir fuertes cambios en tiempo de estos per les. En el Capítulo 3 se extiende el modelo multicapa anterior al caso de una masa granular con nada en un canal rectangular, para lo que se añade un nuevo término de fricción en las paredes laterales. Se presenta también un esquema numérico bien equilibrado para este modelo, con un tratamiento espec co de los términos correspondientes a la fricción y la reologa. Se muestra que el término de fricción lateral modi ca signi cativamente la evolución de la avalancha. En particular, altera completamente el per l vertical de velocidad, dando lugar a zonas donde el material queda estático bajo una capa superior que se mueve. As mismo, se prueba que incluir el término de fricción lateral en modelos integrados de una capa puede dar lugar a soluciones carentes de sentido desde el punto de vista físico. En el Capítulo 4 se presenta una discretización semi-implícita en tiempo para modelos multicapa, para los que se obtiene una condición CFL menos restrictiva en el caso de un flujo subcrítico, lo que permite reducir notablemente el coste computacional. La descripción multicapa propuesta es novedosa, ya que el número de capas verticales puede cambiar a lo largo del dominio computacional, sin una pérdida de precisión relevante. Estas técnicas se aplican a problemas de flujos oceánicos y de transporte de sedimento

Flexible and efficient discretizations of multilayer models with variable density

We show that the semi-implicit time discretization approaches previously introduced for multilayer shallow water models for the barotropic case can be also applied to the variable density case with Boussinesq approximation. Furthermore, also for the variable density equations, a variable number of layers can be used, so as to achieve greater flexibility and efficiency of the resulting multilayer approach. An analysis of the linearized system, which allows to derive linear stability parameters in simple configurations, and the resulting spatially semi-discretized equations are presented. A number of numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Multilayer shallow water models with locally variable number of layers and semi-implicit time discretization

We propose an extension of the discretization approaches for multilayer shallow water models, aimed at making them more flexible and efficient for realistic applications to coastal flows. A novel discretization approach is proposed, in which the number of vertical layers and their distribution are allowed to change in different regions of the computational domain. Furthermore, semi-implicit schemes are employed for the time discretization, leading to a significant efficiency improvement for subcritical regimes. We show that, in the typical regimes in which the application of multilayer shallow water models is justified, the resulting discretization does not introduce any major spurious feature and allows again to reduce substantially the computational cost in areas with complex bathymetry. As an example of the potential of the proposed technique, an application to a sediment transport problem is presented, showing a remarkable improvement with respect to standard discretization approaches

A weakly non-hydrostatic shallow model for dry granular flows

A non-hydrostatic depth-averaged model for dry granular flows is proposed, taking into account vertical acceleration. A variable friction coefficient based on the $\mu(I)$ rheology is considered. The model is obtained from an asymptotic analysis in a local reference system, where the non-hydrostatic contribution is supposed to be small compared to the hydrostatic one. The non-hydrostatic counterpart of the pressure may be written as the sum of two terms: one corresponding to the stress tensor and the other to the vertical acceleration. The model introduced here is weakly non-hydrostatic, in the sense that the non-hydrostatic contribution related to the stress tensor is not taken into account due to its complex implementation. A simple and efficient numerical scheme is proposed. It consists of a three-step splitting procedure, and it is based on a hydrostatic reconstruction. Two key points are: (i) the friction force has to be taken into account before solving the non-hydrostatic pressure. Otherwise, the incompressibility condition is not ensured; (ii) both the hydrostatic and the non-hydrostatic pressure are taken into account when dealing with the friction force. The model and numerical scheme are then validated based on several numerical tests, including laboratory experiments of granular collapse. The influence of non-hydrostatic terms and of the choice of the coordinate system (Cartesian or local) is analyzed. We show that non-hydrostatic models are less sensitive to the choice of the coordinate system. In general, the non-hydrostatic model introduced here much better reproduces granular collapse experiments compared to hydrostatic models. An important result is that the simulated mass profiles up to the deposit and the front velocity are greatly improved. As expected, the influence of the non-hydrostatic pressure is shown to be larger for small values of the slope

Shallow Water Moment models for bedload transport problems

In this work a simple but accurate shallow model for bedload sediment transport is proposed. The model is based on applying the moment approach to the Shallow Water Exner model, making it possible to recover the vertical structure of the flow. This approach allows us to obtain a better approximation of the fluid velocity close to the bottom, which is the relevant velocity for the sediment transport. A general Shallow Water Exner moment model allowing for polynomial velocity profiles of arbitrary order is obtained. A regularization ensures hyperbolicity and easy computation of the eigenvalues. The system is solved by means of an adapted IFCP scheme proposed here. The improvement of this IFCP type scheme is based on the approximation of the eigenvalue associated to the sediment transport. Numerical tests are presented which deal with large and short time scales. The proposed model allows to obtain the vertical structure of the fluid, which results in a better description on the bedload transport of the sediment layer

A general vertical decomposition of Euler equations: Multilayer-moment models

In this work, we present a general framework for vertical discretizations of Euler equations. It generalizes the usual moment and multilayer models and allows to obtain a family of multilayer-moment models. It considers a multilayer-type discretization where the layerwise velocity is a polynomial of arbitrary degree N on the vertical variable. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, we compare the multilayer and moment models in their usual formulation, pointing out some advantages/disadvantages of each approach. Second, a family of multilayer-moment models is proposed. As particular interesting case we shall consider a multilayer-moment model with layerwise linear horizontal velocity. Several numerical tests are presented, devoted to the comparison of multilayer and moment methods, and also showing that the proposed method with layerwise linear velocity allows us to obtain second order accuracy in the vertical direction. We show as well that the proposed approach allows to correctly represent the vertical structure of the solutions of the hydrostatic Euler equations. Moreover, the measured efficiency shows that in many situations, the proposed multilayer-moment model needs just a few layers to improve the results of the usual multilayer model with a high number of vertical layers

A multilayer shallow model for dry granular ows with the (I)-rheology: application to granular collapse on erodible beds

In this work we present a multilayer shallow model to approximate the Navier–Stokes equations with the μ(I)μ(I)-rheology through an asymptotic analysis. The main advantages of this approximation are (i) the low cost associated with the numerical treatment of the free surface of the modelled flows, (ii) the exact conservation of mass and (iii) the ability to compute two-dimensional profiles of the velocities in the directions along and normal to the slope. The derivation of the model follows Fernández-Nieto et al. (J. Comput. Phys., vol. 60, 2014, pp. 408–437) and introduces a dimensional analysis based on the shallow flow hypothesis. The proposed first-order multilayer model fully satisfies a dissipative energy equation. A comparison with steady uniform Bagnold flow – with and without the sidewall friction effect – and laboratory experiments with a non-constant normal profile of the downslope velocity demonstrates the accuracy of the numerical model. Finally, by comparing the numerical results with experimental data on granular collapses, we show that the proposed multilayer model with the μ(I)μ(I)-rheology qualitatively reproduces the effect of the erodible bed on granular flow dynamics and deposits, such as the increase of runout distance with increasing thickness of the erodible bed. We show that the use of a constant friction coefficient in the multilayer model leads to the opposite behaviour. This multilayer model captures the strong change in shape of the velocity profile (from S-shaped to Bagnold-like) observed during the different phases of the highly transient flow, including the presence of static and flowing zones within the granular column

Multilayer models for shallow two-phase debris flows with dilatancy effects

We present here a multilayer model for shallow grain-fluid mixtures with dilatancy effects. It can be seen as a generalization of the depth-averaged model presented in Bouchut et al. (2016) [6], that includes dilatancy effects by considering a two-layer model, a mixture grain-fluid layer and an upper fluid layer, to allow the exchange of fluid between them. In the present work the approximation of the mixture layer is improved including normal variations of the velocities and concentrations of the two phases thanks to the multilayer approach. In the model presented here dilatancy effects induce in particular a non-hydrostatic pressure for both phases related to the excess pore fluid pressure. Contrary to the single-layer model, the computation of this excess pore pressure entrains a serious difficulty due to the multilayer approach. We identified here one of the main numerical difficulty of solving two-phase shallow debris flows models: the strongly non-linear behaviour and abrupt changes of the excess pore fluid pressure when starting from non-equilibrium conditions. We propose a simplified approach to approximate the excess pore fluid pressure in the simple case of uniform flows in the downslope direction and quantify the error made. Our method makes it possible to introduce two or three layers in the normal directions with a reasonable approximation. Analytical solutions for uniform grain-fluid flows over inclined planes, with and without side wall friction, are calculated and compared to the proposed model. The presented model preserves the total solid granular mass as in [6]. In the numerical results, we observe that the proposed model with a two layer description of the mixture accurately represents the velocity measured at the surface of the mixture in the laboratory experiments. This is obviously poorly represented by the depth-averaged velocity in single-layer models while the other quantities (solid volume fraction, basal excess pore fluid pressure) are similar to those obtained with single-layer models. Our numerical results show a significant impact of the parameters involved in dilatancy law, in particular on the calculation of the time evolution of the excess pore fluid pressure

A general vertical decomposition of Euler equations: Multilayer-moment models

In this work, we present a general framework for vertical discretizations of Euler equations. It generalizes the usual moment and multilayer models and allows to obtain a family of multilayer-moment models. It considers a multilayer-type discretization where the layerwise velocity is a polynomial of arbitrary degree N on the vertical variable. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, we compare the multilayer and moment models in their usual formulation, pointing out some advantages/disadvantages of each approach. Second, a family of multilayer-moment models is proposed. As particular interesting case we shall consider a multilayer-moment model with layerwise linear horizontal velocity. Several numerical tests are presented, devoted to the comparison of multilayer and moment methods, and also showing that the proposed method with layerwise linear velocity allows us to obtain second order accuracy in the vertical direction. We show as well that the proposed approach allows to correctly represent the vertical structure of the solutions of the hydrostatic Euler equations. Moreover, the measured efficiency shows that in many situations, the proposed multilayer-moment model needs just a few layers to improve the results of the usual multilayer model with a high number of vertical layers.This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Government and FEDER through the research projects RTI2018-096064-B-C2(1/2) and PID2020-114688RB-I00, the Junta de Andalucía research project P18-RT-3163, the Junta de Andalucia-FEDER-University of Málaga research project UMA18-FEDERJA-16. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA