INTRODUCTION

The success of the FUNWAVE-TVD model is well noted in modeling the surface wave evolution from intermediate water depth to the swash zone. It removes the restriction of the weak nonlinearity, demonstrating significant improvements of wave dispersion property and nonlinearity. Currently, however, there are two major limitations in practical applications of the model: (1) highly dispersive waves common in intermediate to deep water regions and (2) external forcing associated with large-scale processes such as tides and storm surges.

The current version of the model resolves waves up to kh ~ 3.14, where kh is a parameter to measure wave dispersion. For surface waves beyond this range, the model accuracy decreases considerably due to errors in calculating wave celerity; thereby not resolving properly the shorter wave component. This is a considerable limitation, as the model is increasingly being applied across larger computational domains. Simulation times are also steadily increasing, up to even several days of wave propagation. As such, the model needs to be able to adopt to changing water levels during the course of a run, which is currently not possible. The proposed work seeks to overcome these limitations and enhance the computational utility of the model.