Tides on unstructured meshes [Elektronische Ressource] / presented by Silvia Maßmann

Tides on unstructured meshesDissertationpresented byDipl. Math. Silvia Maßmannin fullfillment of the requirementsfor the degree ofdoctor in natural sciences (Dr.rer.nat.)at the Department of Physics1.Assessor: Prof. Dr. Dirk Olbers2.Assessor: Prof. Dr. Jörn BehrensSubmitted on November 30, 2009Date of the colloquium: 10.02.2010ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCHAbstractUnstructured mesh methods offer flexibility in representing variable coastlines andbathymetries in ocean circulation models. They propose other advantages allow ing, for example, to define high resolution in certain regions of global mesh withoutinvoking nesting methods.However, already existing finite difference structured mesh models often outper form them as their computations per mesh node are less expensive. Nevertheless,due to the big variety of discretizations possible with unstructured mesh methods -finite element or finite volume - and the freedom in mesh design, the existing set ups are not necessarily optimal in terms of accuracy and numerical efficiency. Thesearch for optimal approach presents an important direction of current research.This thesis partly contributes in this direction. Two finite element and one finite vol ume method are compared with respect to their ability to faithfully simulate tideson meshes of the European Continental Shelf.