Determination of bed elevation in the enhanced lattice Boltzmann method for the shallow-water equations

The bed slope in the shallow-water equations reflects the bed topography. It is not a flow variable and cannot be determined in the solution to the flow equations. An immovable nonflat bed affects a flow as a force term, but the flow has no effect on it. Only when the bed term is correctly represented in a numerical method can it generate an accurate solution. In the enhanced lattice Boltzmann method for the shallow-water equations (eLABSWE), using an individual Chapman-Enskog analysis, it is found that such a correct representation can be achieved by retaining C(α)=2λ(α), in which C(α) is the coefficient for bed elevation in the lattice Boltzmann equation and λ(α) is that for the water depth in the local equilibrium distribution function. The finding has been validated through simulations of a water at rest in a dish-shaped lake, a wind-induced shallow flow in the same lake, and a steady flow over a two-dimensional bed hump.