A Short Review on Computational Hydraulics in the context of Water Resources Engineering

Abstract

The term “hydraulics” is concerned with the conveyance of water that can consist of very simple processes to complex physical processes, such as flow in open rivers, flow in pipes, the flow of nutrients/sediments, the flow of groundwater to sea waves. The study of hydraulics is primarily a mixture of theory and experiments. Computational hydraulics is very helpful to quantify and predict flow nature and behavior. The mathematical model is the backbone of the computational hydraulics that consists of simple to complex mathematical equations with linear and/or non-linear terms and ordinary or partial differential equations. Analytical solution to these mathematical equations is not feasible in the majority of cases. In these consequences, mathematical models are solved using different numerical techniques and associated schemes. In this manuscript, we aim to review hydraulic principles along with their mathematical equations. Then we aim to learn some commonly used numerical techniques to solve different types of differential equations related to hydraulics. Among them, the Finite Difference Method (FDM), Finite Element Method (FEM) and Finite Volume Method (FVM) have been discussed along with their use in real-life applications in the context of water resources engineering.