On a one-dimensional bi-layer shallow-water problem. (Q1869966)

The authors examine the one-dimensional flow of two superposed shallow layers of immiscible viscous fluids in a channel with variable rectangular cross-section. Using some a priori estimates for the thickness of the layers, the authors prove existence, uniqueness and smoothness of solution for small data and homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. Next, a first-order upwind van Leer \(Q\)-scheme is constructed for numerical solution of the governing PDE system. As illustration, this scheme is applied to the simulation of two-layer exchange flows through straits with sill and contraction in the presence of periodic barotropic forcing.