A 2-D hydrodynamic model for the river, lake and network system in the Jingjiang reach on the unstructured quadrangles

The main river, the Dongting Lake and river networks in the Jingjiang reach of the Yangtze River constitute a complex water system, for which a full 2-D hydrodynamic model is established instead of the traditional 1-D or compound models for simulation of such complex systems, based on the latest developments of computer technologies and numerical methods. To better handle irregular boundaries and keep the computation cost well in a reasonable limit, unstructured grids of moderate scale are used. In addition, a dynamic boundary tracking method is proposed to simulate variable flow domains at different floods, especially, when the moderate scale gird can not describe flows in narrow river-network channels at low water levels. The ϑ semi-implicit method and the Eulerian-Lagrangian Method (ELM) are adopted, which make the model unconditionally stable with respect to the gravity wave speed and Courant number restrictions. Properties and efficiency of the model are discussed, and it is concluded that the new model is robust and efficient enough for the simulation of a big, complex water system. Validation tests show that the simulation results agree well with field data. It takes about 0.96 h to complete the computation of a 76 d flood, which indicates that the model is efficient enough for engineering applications.