A higher-efficient three-dimensional numerical model for small amplitude free surface flows

A higher-efficient three-dimensional non-hydrostatic model is developed to simulate small amplitude free surface flows based on a staggered unstructured grid. In this model, a fractional step algorithm is adopted to solve the Navier-Stokes equations in two major steps. A top-layer pressure method is proposed to minimize the number of vertical layers and subsequently the computational cost. Three classical examples of small amplitude free surface flows are used to demonstrate the capability and efficiency of the model. The satisfactory results demonstrated the capability and efficiency of modelling a range of small amplitude free surface flows with only a small number of vertical layers.