Introduction

Introduction Computational modeling is integral to the analysis, design, and assessment of river hydraulics. Finite difference, finite volume, and finite element methods for modeling river flows are common. These methods have advantages and disadvantages. In recent decades, the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method, or so-called discontinuous finite element method, has received great attention in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The DG method combines the advantages of finite volume and finite element methods. In this book, the DG method and its application to shallow water flows are introduced. A brief historical overview of the DG method and a summary of the chapters in this book are presented in this chapter.