A moving boundary approach for one-dimensional free surface ̄ows

Numerical analysis of open channel ̄ows has largely con®ned to using ®xed boundaries in the numerical codes. Given the size of the problem domain, using ®xed boundaries often taxes the computational resources since the e€ect of the boundary is transferred on to its adjacent node in the ®rst few iterations. In this work, we explore the performance of a moving boundary in conjunction with central di€erencing (classical Runge Kutta (RK)) and high resolute (Essentially Non-Oscillatory (ENO)) shock capturing schemes. The performance of this algorithm is tested with ̄ows containing discontinuities. By correlating the velocity of the boundary to the location of the wave front, the results obtained indicate that no ̄ow information is lost. Moving the boundary with time helps in constricting the size of ̄ow domain and thus accelerating the solution to the desired transient state. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.