ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Computer aided mathematical modelling of fluvial processes contributed to the integration of basic phenomenological knowledge into practical engineering works, thus alleviating long standing tensions between engineering practitioners and river scientists. In this text, it is upheld the principle that any advance in computational fluvial hydraulics is closely linked to a progress in the characterization of fluvial phenomena. Bearing this principle in mind, the objective of this work is to present the development of a computational tool suitable to model highly unsteady geomorphic flows within an engineering framework. In order to fulfil this objective, a two-dimensional vertical conceptual model, based on Chapman-Enskog theory for dense gases, is presented and the corresponding flow is numerically simulated. A one-dimensional conceptual model is then derived and its equations analysed. Numerical simulations of geomorphic flows are presented. A real-case simulation example, the 1996 flood in River Ha! Ha!, is presented. It is shown that the model is able to find non-oscillatory solutions even when subjected to important mass and momentum inputs.
