Title: Simulation of Surface and Subsurface Fluid Flow by Finite Element Methods

By
Junping Wang
Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80403


Abstract:

Simulation of overland flow has significant impact on the economic
and urban development for the nation. Most of the existing
simulation models are based on approximate or greatly simplified
forms of the Saint Venant equations and the subsurface flow
equation obtained from the Darcy's law. An ideal model for the
simulation of two dimensional overland flow is expected to handle
fluid bodies and simulating regions of arbitrary shape. The
features that make models useful for practical applications
include the ability to handle wetting and drying; the ability to
simulate fluid flow through structures such as weirs, gates and
culverts; and the ability to handle tributary and slough inflows.
The modeling system usually combines an overland flow model, a channel
flow model, an infiltration model, a sewer flow model (in urban
areas), and a model linking surface flow and sewer flow.

The coupled system for surface and subsurface fluid flows will 
be discussed in this talk. A modified version of the Saint Venant 
equation will be presented and approximated by finite element and finite 
volume methods. A new discretization scheme for the Stokes equation will
be discussed as well.