Use of Orthogonal Collocation Method for a Dynamic Model of the Flow in a Prismatic Open Channel: For Estimation Purposes

Abstract

The modeling and simulation of free surface flows are complex and challenging. Especially, the open channel hydraulics are often modeled by the well–known and efficient Saint–Venant equations. The possibility of efficiently reducing these partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations with the use of orthogonal collocation method is studied with the goal of application in estimations. The collocation method showed the flexibility of choosing the boundary conditions with respect to the flow behavior. The results were comparable enough to the selected finite volume method. Further, a significant reduction in computational time in the collocation method is observed. Therefore, the collocation method shows a good possibility of using it for the real–time estimation of flow rate in an open channel.