1

Lecture 1: Introduction
1. Governing Equations and Boundary Conditions
2. Mathematical Classification of Flows and Water Mass Equations
3. Classification of Discretization Methods
4. Key Properties of Numerical Methods
References: Ferziger and Peric, 2002. Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics
2
(1.1) ) (
1
u m
o
F
z
u
K
z x
P
fv
z
u
w
y
u
v
x
u
u
t
u
+ + = + + +
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
(1.2) ) (
1
v m
o
F
z
v
K
z y
P
fu
z
v
w
y
v
v
x
v
u
t
v
+ + = + + + +
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c

cw
ct
+ u
cw
cx
+ v
cw
cy
+ w
cw
cz
=
1

o
cP
cz

'

o
g (1.3)
(1.4) 0 = + +
z
w
y
v
x
u
c
c
c
c
c
c
(1.5) ) (
u
c
cu
c
c
c
cu
c
cu
c
cu
c
cu
F
z
K
z z
w
y
v
x
u
t
h
+ = + + +
(1.6) ) (
s h
F
z
s
K
z z
s
w
y
s
v
x
s
u
t
s
+ = + + +
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
=

(u, s

) (1.7)

The governing equations with hydrostatic, incompressible, and Boussinesq approximations;
H
,
0
z
y
x

, + = H D

The surface and bottom boundary conditions for u, v, and w are:
; ) , (
1
) , (
) , , (
sy sx
o t y x z
m
z
v
z
u
K t t
c
c
c
c
,
=
=
,
;
) , , (
y
v
x
u
t
w
t y x z
c
c,
c
c,
c
c,
,
+ + =
=
); , (
1
) , (
) , , (
by bx
o t y x z
m
z
v
z
u
K t t
c
c
c
c
,
=
=
,
;
) , , (
y
H
v
x
H
u w
t y x z
c
c
c
c
,
=
=
); , ( ) , (
2 2
b b d by bx
v u v u C + = t
|
|
.
|

\
|
= 0025 . 0 , ) ln( / max
2 2
o
ab
d
z
z
k C
); , ( ) , (
2 2
s s s sy sx
v u v u C + = t
3
)] , , , ( ) , , ( [
1
) , , (
t y x SW t y x Q
K c z
n
h p t y x z
,

u
,
=
c
c
=

tan
n K
A
z
h
H
H z
c
c
=
c
c
=
u o u
0
z
l
n
o
0 =
c
c
z
u
n K
A
z
h
H
c
c
=
c
c u o u tan
The surface and bottom boundary conditions for temperature are:
] ) 1 ( [Re ) , , , ( ) , , , (
b
z
a
z
e R t y x SW t z y x SW
, ,
,

+ =
]
1
[
) , 0 , , ( ) , , , (
) , , , (
b
z
a
z
p
e
b
R
e
a
R
c
t y x SW
z
t z y x SW
t z y x H

+ =
c
=
c
The absorption of downward irradiance is included in the
temperature (heat) equation in the form of
The surface and bottom boundary conditions for salinity are:
h t y x z
K
P E s
z
s )

(
) , , (

=
c
c
=,
n
s
K
A
z
s
h
H
t y x z
c
c
=
c
c
=
o
,
tan
) , , (
rate n Evaporatio : E

rate; ion Precipitat :

P
The kinematic and heat and salt flux conditions on the solid boundary:
0 ; 0 ; 0 =
c
c
=
c
c
=
n
s
n
v
n
u
no flux conditions
4
Answer: No! Horizontal and vertical diffusion coefficients are unknown.
.
QS: We have 7 equations for u, v, w, s, u, p and . Is this
model system closed?
Comments: The diffusion process in the ocean is dominated by turbulence
mixing processes that are dependent of the time and space as well as fluid
motion. There are not equations that could describe exactly the turbulence
process
5
Turbulence Closure Submodels
1. Horizontal diffusion coefficient: A Smagorinsky eddy parameterization method
2 2 2
) ( ) ( 5 . 0 ) ( 5 . 0
y
v
y
u
x
v
x
u
C A
u
m
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
O =
where C : a constant parameter; O
u
: the area of the individual momentum control element
2 2 2
) ( ) ( 5 . 0 ) (
5 . 0
y
v
y
u
x
v
x
u
P
C
A
r
h
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c O
=
,
a) for momentum:
b) for tracers:
where O
,
: the area of the individual tracer control element; : the Prandtl number. r
P
r
P

r
P
6
2. The vertical eddy viscosity and thermal diffusion coefficient:

a) The Mellor and Yamada (1982) level 2.5 (MY-2.5) q-ql turbulent closure model modified by


Galperin et al. (1988) to include the up- and low-bound limits of the stability function;

Kantha and Clayson (1994) to add an improved parameterization of pressure-strain convariance
and shear instability-induced mixing in the strongly stratified region;

Mellor and Blumberg (2004) to include the wind-driven surface wave breaking-induced
turbulent energy input at the surface and interval wave parameterization.
b) General Ocean Turbulent Model (GOTM) has become a very popular open-source
community model (Burchard, 2002): include MY model and k-c models.
The k-c model: improved by Canuto et al., 2001to include the pressure-strain covariance
term with buoyancy, anisotropic production and vorticity contribution. This modification
shifts the cutoff of mixing from = 0.2 (original MY-2.5 model) to = 1.0.

7
q q b s
F
z
q
K
z
P P
z
q
w
y
q
v
x
q
u
t
q
+
c
c
c
c
+ + =
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
) ( ) ( 2
2 2 2 2 2
c
l q b s
F
z
l q
K
z E
W
P P lE
z
l q
w
y
l q
v
x
l q
u
t
l q
+
c
c
c
c
+ + =
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c
) ( )
~
(
2
1
1
2 2 2 2
c
The Original MY-2.5 Model:
q u v
2 2 2
2 = ' + ' ( ) /
Here:
The turbulent kinetic energy
l
The turbulent macroscale
] ) ( ) [(
2 2
z
v
z
u
K P
m s
c
c
+
c
c
=
The shear turbulent production
P gK
b h z o
= ( ) /
The buoyancy turbulent production
c = q
3
/B
1
l The turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate
lq K lqS K lqS K
q h h m m
2 . 0 , , = = =
8
c
o
v
+ =
c
c
c
c

c
c
G P
z
k
z t
k
k
t
)

(
k
c
k
G c P c
z z t
t
2
2 3 1
) ( )

(
c c c
o
v c
c
+ =
c
c
c
c

c
c
The k-c Model (Burchard, 2001):
Here k is the same as q and v
t
is the same as K
m
in MY level 2.5 model

c
v

2
k
c
t
=
The MY level 2.5 model: US ocean modeling community;

The k-c model: European ocean modeling community.

9
Comments: With empirical expressions of horizontal and vertical diffusion
coefficients, the governing equations with boundary conditions are
mathematically closed. However, these equations are not analytically solvable,
because they are fully nonlinearly coupled.
Theoretical Oceanographers: simplify these equations and use them to explore the
dynamics that drive the oceanic motions, mixing, and stratification for a century.
Examples: Geostrophic theory-explain the dynamics of the large-scale motion in the ocean
Western boundary intensification theory
Linear or nonlinear wave theories, etc
Coriolis force
Pressure gradient force
Ug
Analytical Solutions exist for special cases (linear or quasi-linear)
10
QS: How long ago did the idea for using numerical method to solve the partial
difference equations appear?
A century ago? However, it has not been widely used until 70s because of the
limitation of computation capability.
QS: Who was the earliest modeler who devoted his life time on developing ocean
model?
Dr. Kirk Bryan: Retired professor at Princeton University, who was named as the
founding father of numerical ocean modeling. The Princeton General Circulation
Model (GCM)-60s
Professor Allan Robinson: Harvard University: Quasi-geostrophic ocean model-80s
Dr. George Mellor: Princeton University: POM-later 80s
11
QS: Why do we need to learn the numerical method since the future models could
be operated like a Microsoft Window?

QS: There are so many mature ocean model available, so we could easily get one
and run it as a black box. Why do we need to learn the basic principal used in
numerical models?

QS: What is the best way to learn the numerical method?