Modified Saint-Venant equations for flow simulation in tidal rivers

Flow in tidal rivers periodically propagates upstream or downstream under tidal influence. Hydrodynamic models based on the Saint-Venant equations (the SVN model) are extensively used to model tidal rivers. A force-corrected term expressed as the combination of flow velocity and the change rate of the tidal level was developed to represent tidal effects in the SVN model. A momentum equation incorporating with the corrected term was derived based on Newton’s second law. By combing the modified momentum equation with the continuity equation, an improved SVN model for tidal rivers (the ISVN model) was constructed. The simulation of a tidal reach of the Qiantang River shows that the ISVN model performs better than the SVN model. It indicates that the corrected force derived for tidal effects is reasonable; the ISVN model provides an appropriate enhancement of the SVN model for flow simulation of tidal rivers.