Unstructured Mesh Generation and Dynamic

Load Balancing for Coastal Ocean Hydrodynamic

Simulations
Keith J. Roberts
November 2, 2018

Abstract
Two-dimensional finite element simulations can be used to accurately
reproduce coastal water levels associated with barotropic process such as
flooding from Hurricane events and the astronomical tides. These simu-
lations often use a mesh of triangles to discretize the model domain since
they can be orientated and disparately sized in such a way to accurately
fit the complex coastline shape and intricate overland topography. Thus,
the generation of these triangular meshes have many degrees of variation
and their generation is often a tedious and ad hoc process. Further, the
level of mesh resolution nearshore and overland necessary to accurately
simulate processes like coastal flooding can result in computational un-
feasible models, which may require thousands of processors to execute in
reasonable time periods.
This talk considers ways to improve the mesh design and compu-
tational expense aspects of finite element models for the simulation of
coastal ocean hydrodynamcics. First, I describe an open software pack-
age (OceanMesh2D V1.0 ) that I have developed to simplify the triangular
mesh generation process. This software places mesh resolution using size
functions that are based on input data representing the coastline and
seabed topography. I show how this software is being used in a series
of experiments to develop an optimal mesh of the East Coast and Gulf
Coasts of the United States. Lastly, I present a computational algorithm
and its implementation within a coastal ocean hydrodynamic model to
eliminate the cost of overland mesh vertices. This application re-balances
computational work during run time (dynamic load balancing) based on
the movement of the coastal flood. I demonstrate that the cost savings
depends of the run configuration and distribution of model vertices. This
application may enable the deployment of uniformly high resolution mesh
elements to represent overland topography at little to no cost.