Shallow water
Shallow-water flow simulation in OpenFOAM
Depth-averaged free-surface flow for rivers, floodplains and coastal problems using shallowWaterFoam.
What it is
Where the horizontal scale vastly exceeds the depth, the vertical structure can be averaged away, leaving a two-dimensional problem in depth and horizontal velocity. Far cheaper than resolving the free surface directly.
What the application sets up
- Bed elevation and initial depth fields
- Inflow and outflow conditions in depth-averaged form
- The 2D domain the formulation assumes
Typical uses
- River reach and channel flow
- Flood plain inundation
- Coastal and estuary circulation
- Dam-break wave propagation over terrain
Industries
Sectors where this analysis is routinely asked for.
- Civil & flood engineering
- Coastal engineering
- Dam safety
- Environmental hydraulics
What comes out
- Water depth over the domain
- Flood extent and arrival times
- Wave run-up at boundaries
- Discharge through openings
OpenFOAM solvers
shallowWaterFoam
Selected and configured for you from the analysis type. You can still see every dictionary the application writes.
In every tier
This analysis type is in the free build. The free tier limits mesh size to 250,000 cells and solving to one core — not which physics you may use.
On accuracy, plainly.
Every analysis type is exercised end to end on every pass — its case is generated, meshed and run — which establishes that the setup is right, not that the answer matches your geometry. No CFD result is evidence until it is checked against something you trust: a measurement, a hand calculation, or a mesh-refinement study the application will run for you. Treat these results with the judgement you would apply to any CFD you set up yourself.