Stability and accuracy of spatial approximations for wave equation tidal models (Q1062830)

Amplitude and phase characteristics for numerical approximations to the shallow water wave equation are obtained for linear and quadratic finite elements, for finite difference approximations, for non-constant bathemetry, and for uneven node spacing. Stability is shown to require non-zero friction as well as satisfaction of a Courant constraint. Lumping is shown to reduce the Courant constraint for stability while higher order and quadratic finite element approximations require a more restrictive constraint than their second order and linear finite element counterparts. The amplitude of the propagation factor for stable schemes and propagating waves is seen to be independent of the Courant number and type of numerical approximation. Although the higher order and quadratic schemes provide better propagation of the low and moderate frequency waves, the highest frequency waves (2\(\Delta\) x) are better propagated by low order numerical methods.