A simple and efficient numerical model for simulating one dimensional dam break flows

A semi implicit finite difference scheme is presented in this paper for simulation of dam break flow over undulated bed. For this purpose, the one dimensional (1D) governing equations of shallow water flow, in a deviatoric version is solved here. One of the main important features of the present model is that, no special treatment is required here to deal with the offending friction slope source term for very less water depth. Regarding the bed slope term also, simple central difference approximation is sufficient to handle undulated channel bed. To investigate the performance of the present model in diverse situations, it is used to replicate different dam break test problems including one of known analytical solution and two experimental dam break cases. A detail analysis of the results show that the model capable is of producing good quality results for varied conditions. A sensitivity analysis is carried out for the damping parameter and an optimal range is proposed for it.