A differential quadrature analysis of unsteady open channel flow

A rapid, convergent and accurate differential quadrature method (DQM) is employed for numerical simulation of unsteady open channel flow. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to use the DQM in open channel hydraulics. The Saint-Venant equations and the related nonhomogenous, time dependent boundary conditions are discretized in spatial and temporal domain by DQ rules. The unknowns in the entire domain are computed by satisfying governing equations, boundary and initial conditions simultaneously. By employing DQM, accurate results can be obtained using dramatically less grid points in spatial and time domain. The stability of DQM solution is not sensitive to choosing time step or Courant number unlike other methods. Although numerical problems such as instability, oscillation and underestimation near critical depth can be seen by using other methods but DQM solution is smooth and accurate in this case. The results are sensitive to grid distribution in time domain. In light of this, Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobatto distribution performance is excellent. To validate the DQM solutions, the obtained results are compared with those of the characteristic method. In conclusion, DQM is a potential powerful method with minimum computational effort for unsteady flow simulation.