Computational Environmental Fluid Dynamics

Computational Environmental Fluid Dynamics is a powerful tool to explore natural phenomena. The Laboratory is constantly working on research, development and applications in the fields of ocean and coastal modelling. This includes modelling of surface waves; simulation of currents driven by wind, waves and tidal forcing; a suite of water quality models for acute and chronic chemical spills; sediment transport model. All the models are three-dimensional, state-of-the-art in their respective fields. All the models are rigorously tested and validated for South China Sea, Singapore and Malacca Straits. They are used routinely for forecasting purposes.

Suite of circulation models used by the Laboratory includes worldwide known packages DELFT3D, MIKE3 and POM, as well as in-house developed SLON and TMH. New finite-element model, utilizing unstructured grid with triangular cells, is being developed.

For the wind generated waves two basic models are used: WAM – for the larger domains, such as South-China Sea and Malacca Straits, and SWAN - for the smaller domains like Singapore Strait. Several fundamental modifications have been made in POM to take into account other important phenomena, including wave-current interaction and mixing due to breaking waves. Both, WAM and POM have been coupled in a single code to simulate influence of waves on current circulation with feedback. The models are equipped with the customized data assimilation algorithms, which significantly improve accuracy of forecast by using monitoring data.

The in-house developed water quality models are capable of simulation of eutrophication, oil spills, radionuclide and chemical spills. The models utilize recent achievements in computational science and chemical kinetics. To take into account the influence of bed morphology on currents and maritime activities, the custom-made sediment transport model is coupled with the circulation model.

Practical needs drive the team to venture into upstream approaches of computational science including parallel computing and high-order accuracy approximation methods.