Swashuse

SWASH
USER MANUAL
SWASH version 8.01

SWASH USER MANUAL
by : The SWASH team
mail address : Delft University of Technology

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Environmental Fluid Mechanics Section
P.O. Box 5048
2600 GA Delft
The Netherlands
website : http://www.tudelft.nl/swash
Copyright (c) 2010-2022 Delft University of Technology.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of
the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the
Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-
Cover Texts. A copy of the license is available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html#TOC1.
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Contents
1 About this manual 1
2 General description and instructions for use 3

2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Background, features and applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2.1 Objective and context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2.2 A bird’s-eye view of SWASH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.3 Model features and validity of SWASH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.4 Relation to Boussinesq-type wave models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.5 Relation to circulation and coastal flow models . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Internal scenarios, shortcomings and coding bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Units and coordinate systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Choice of grids and time windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5.2 Computational grid and time window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.5.3 Input grid(s) and time window(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5.4 Input grid(s) for transport of constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.5 Output grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.7 Time and date notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.8 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 Input and output files 19

3.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Input / output facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.3 Print file and error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4 Description of commands 21
4.1 List of available commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.2 Sequence of commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.3 Command syntax and input / output limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.4 Start-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
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SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
COORDINATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.5 Model description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.5.1 Computational grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
CGRID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
READGRID COORDINATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
READGRID UNSTRUCTURED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
VERTICAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.5.2 Input grids and data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
INPGRID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
READINP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
INPTRANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
READTRANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.5.3 Initial and boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
INITIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
BOUND SHAPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
BOUNDCOND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
SOURCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
SPONGE LAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
FLOAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.5.4 Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
WIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
FRICTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
VISCOSITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
POROSITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
VEGETATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
TRANSPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
BREAKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.5.5 Numerics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
NONHYDROSTATIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
DISCRETIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
BOTCEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
TIME INTEGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.6 Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.6.1 Output locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
FRAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
CURVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
RAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
ISOLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
POINTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.6.2 Write or plot computed quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
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QUANTITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
OUTPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
BLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
TABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.6.3 Write or plot intermediate results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
TEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.7 Lock-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
COMPUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
STOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5 Setting up your own command file 103

5.1 Computational grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.2 Input grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.3 Initial and boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.4 Numerical parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.4.1 Duration of simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.4.2 Time step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.4.3 Vertical pressure gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.4.4 Momentum conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.4.5 Discretization of advection terms in the momentum equations . . . 115
5.4.6 Moving shorelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.5 Physical parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.5.1 Depth-induced wave breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.5.2 Subgrid turbulent mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.5.3 Vertical turbulent mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.5.4 Bottom friction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.6 Output quantities, locations and formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.7 The importance of parallel computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
A Definitions of variables 123
B Command syntax 127

B.1 Commands and command schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
B.2 Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
B.2.1 Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Spelling of keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Required and optional keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Repetitions of keywords and/or other data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
B.2.2 Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Character data and numerical data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Spelling of data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Required data and optional data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
B.3 Command file and comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
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B.4 End of line or continuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
C File swash.edt 133
Bibliography 141
Index 142
Chapter 1
About this manual
The information about the SWASH package is distributed over two different documents.
This User Manual describes the specifications for the input of the SWASH model. The
Implementation Manual explains the installation procedure and the usage of SWASH on a
single- or multi-processor machine with distributed memory. Apart from these documents,
programmers who want to further develop SWASH can also consult the Programming rules
as applied for SWAN; see http://www.swan.tudelft.nl for further details.
In Chapter 2 general description of the model and some instructions concerning the usage
of SWASH, the treatment of grids, boundary conditions, etc. are given. It is advised to
read this chapter before consulting the rest of the manual. Chapter 3 gives some remarks
concerning the input and output files of SWASH. Chapter 4 describes the complete set of
commands of the program SWASH. In Chapter 5 some guidelines for setting up a command
file is outlined.
Before start using the SWASH package, it is suggested to first read Chapters 2 and 3. Also,
Chapter 5 is recommended.
This manual also contains some appendices. In Appendix A definitions of some parameters
are given. Appendix B outlines the syntax of the command file (or input file). A complete
set of all the commands use in SWASH can be found in Appendix C.
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2 Chapter 1
Chapter 2
General description and instructions

for use
2.1 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the user with relevant background information
on SWASH and to give some general advice in choosing the basic input for SWASH com-
putations.
A general suggestion is: start simple. SWASH helps in this with default options. Moreover,
it is a good idea to read Chapter 5 first when setting up a command file for the first time.
Furthermore, suggestions are given that should help the user to choose among the many
options conditions and in which mode to run SWASH (1D or flume-like, 2D or basin-like,
depth-averaged or multi-layered, etc.). In addition, the way you need to specify the para-
meters and options resembles to that of SWAN. Hence, those users who are familiar with
SWAN should be able to use SWASH without much effort. It is recommended to carry out
some available test cases first to get acquaint with the program.
2.2 Background, features and applications

2.2.1 Objective and context
SWASH is a general-purpose numerical tool for simulating non-hydrostatic, free-surface,
rotational flows and transport phenomena in one, two or three dimensions. The governing
equations are the nonlinear shallow water equations including non-hydrostatic pressure and
some transport equations, and provide a general basis for simulating
• wave transformation in both surf and swash zones due to nonlinear wave-wave inter-
actions, interaction of waves with currents, interaction of waves with structures, wave
damping due to vegetation, and wave breaking as well as runup at the shoreline,
3
4 Chapter 2
• complex changes to rapidly varied flows typically found in coastal flooding resulting
from e.g. dike breaks, tsunamis, and flood waves,
• density driven flows in coastal seas, estuaries, lakes, and rivers, and
• large-scale ocean circulation, tides and storm surges.
The model is referred to as a wave-flow model and is essentially applicable in the coastal
regions up to the shore. This has prompted the acronym SWASH for the associated code,
standing for Simulating WAves till SHore. The basic philosophy of the SWASH code is to
provide an efficient and robust model that allows a wide range of time and space scales
of surface waves and shallow water flows in complex environments to be applied. As a
result, SWASH allows for the entire modelling process to be carried out in any area of
interest. This includes small-scale coastal applications, like waves approaching a beach,
wave penetration in a harbour, flood waves in a river, oscillatory flow through canopies,
salt intrusion in an estuary, and large-scale ocean, shelf and coastal systems driven by
Coriolis and meteorological forces to simulate tidal waves and storm surge floods.
SWASH is close in spirit to SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) with respect to the
pragmatism employed in the development of the code in the sense that comprises are
sometimes necessary for reasons of efficiency and robustness. On the one hand, it provides
numerical stability and robustness, and on the other hand it gives accurate results in a
reasonable turn-around time.
2.2.2 A bird’s-eye view of SWASH

The open source code of SWASH has been developed based on the work of Stelling and
Zijlema (2003), Stelling and Duinmeijer (2003), Zijlema and Stelling (2005, 2008), Smit et
al. (2013) and Zijlema (2020). The main elements of the SWASH code are:
• It is based on an explicit, second order finite difference method for staggered grids
whereby mass and momentum are strictly conserved at discrete level. As a con-
sequence, this simple and efficient scheme is able to track the actual location of
incipient wave breaking. Also, momentum conservation enables the broken waves
to propagate with a correct gradual change of form and to resemble steady bores
in a final stage. Yet, this approach is appropriate for hydraulic jumps, dam-break
problems and flooding situations as well.
• In the case of flow contractions, the horizontal advective terms in momentum equa-
tions are approximated such that constant energy head is preserved along a stream-
line.
• By considering the similarity between breaking waves and moving hydraulic jumps,
energy dissipation due to wave breaking is inherently accounted for. In addition,
nonlinear wave properties under breaking waves such as asymmetry and skewness
are preserved.
General description and instructions for use 5
• For accuracy reason, the pressure is split-up into hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic
parts. Time stepping is done in combination with a projection method, where cor-
rection to the velocity field for the change in non-hydrostatic pressure is incorporated.
Moreover, space discretization precedes introduction of pressure correction, so that
no artificial pressure boundary conditions are required.
• Because of the abovementioned pressure splitting, hydrostatic flow computation can

be done easily as well by simply switching off the non-hydrostatic pressure. As such,
SWASH is appropriate for the simulation of large-scale tides and storm surges.
• With respect to time integration of the continuity and momentum equations, the
second order leapfrog scheme is adopted, as it does not alter the wave amplitude while
its numerical dispersion is favourable. This will prove beneficial to wave propagation.
• Alternatively, time discretization may take place by explicit time stepping for ho-
rizontal advective and viscosity terms and semi-implicit time stepping using the
θ−method for both surface level and pressure gradients as well as the free-surface
condition. As a consequence, unconditional stability is achieved with respect to the
celerity of gravity waves. The enhanced stability of this time stepping allows larger
time steps, by a factor of five to ten, compared to the leapfrog scheme, and may
thus be beneficial to large-scale applications such as tidal flow, and wind and density
driven circulation.
• The physical domain can be discretized by subdivision of the continuum into cells of
arbitrary shape and size. Furthermore, a distinction is made between the definition of
the grid in the horizontal and vertical direction. In general, we consider two types of
grids: structured and unstructured. A structured grid is employed where each interior
cell is surrounded by the same number of cells. In unstructured grids, however,
this number can be arbitrarily. For this reason, the level of flexibility with respect
to the grid point distribution of unstructured grids is far more optimal compared
to structured grids. In the horizontal planes, rectilinear, orthogonal curvilinear,
boundary-fitted, (non)uniform grid or unstructured grid can be considered. In the
current version of SWASH (since 7.01) only triangular meshes can be employed.
Either Cartesian coordinates on a plane or spherical coordinates on the globe can be
defined. In the vertical direction, the computational domain is divided into a fixed
number of layers in a such a way that both the bottom topography and the free
surface can be accurately represented. In this way, it permits more resolution near
the free surface as well as near the bed.
• In order to resolve the frequency dispersion up to an acceptable level of accuracy,

a compact difference scheme for the approximation of vertical gradient of the non-
hydrostatic pressure is applied in conjunction with a vertical layer mesh employing
equally distributed layers. This scheme receives good linear dispersion up to kd ≈ 8
and kd ≈ 16 with two and three equidistant layers, respectively, at 1% error in
6 Chapter 2
phase velocity of primary waves (k and d are the wave number and still water depth,
respectively). The model improves its frequency dispersion by simply increasing the
number of vertical layers.
• The three-dimensional simulation of flows exposing strong vertical variation amounts

to the accurate computation of vertical turbulent mixing of momentum and some con-
stituents, such as salt, heat and suspended sediment, combined with an appropriate
vertical terrain-following grid employing sufficient number of non-equidistant layers.
The vertical variation may be generated by wind forcing, bed stress, Coriolis force
or density stratification.
• The combined effects of wave-wave and wave-current interaction in shallow water

are automatically included and do not need any additional modelling, such as cal-
culating the radiation stresses explicitly and subsequently solving a wave-averaged
hydrodynamic model separately.
• For a proper representation of the interface of water and land, a simple approach is
adopted that tracks the moving shoreline by ensuring non-negative water depths and
using the upwind water depths in the momentum flux approximations.
• Since version 7.01, the wave-flow model SWASH has been extended to unstructured
triangular meshes. The main motivation for the application of such meshes is the
ease of local grid refinements for the simulation of wave dynamics. The covolume
method has been adopted for the spatial discretization of the shallow water equations
with the primitive variables. The velocity components normal to the cell faces are
employed as the primary unknowns in the discretization, whereas the water level
and non-hydrostatic pressure are resided at cell centers. Although the covolume
method is free of spurious pressure modes, it is practically limited to Delaunay-
Voronoi meshes. This may impede the user flexibility to generate adequate grids
comprising the necessary refinements. Nevertheless, the associated orthogonality
requirement is found not to be a limiting factor in wave-related applications. This
is explained by the fact that the required mesh resolution is reasonably non-uniform
for the scale of wave dynamics across the entire domain. The unstructured version
of SWASH is applicable to a wide range of wave-flow problems to investigate the
nonlinear dynamics of free surface waves over varying bathymetries.
Like SWAN, the software package of SWASH includes user-friendly pre- and post-processing
and does not need any special libraries (e.g. PETSc, HYPRE). In addition, SWASH is
highly flexible, accessible and easily extendible concerning several functionalities of the
model. As such, SWASH can be used operationally and the software can be used freely
under the GNU GPL license (http://swash.sourceforge.net).
2.2.3 Model features and validity of SWASH

SWASH is a free-surface, terrain-following, multi-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation
model to describe unsteady, rotational flow and transport phenomena in coastal waters
as driven by e.g., waves, tides, buoyancy and wind forces. It solves the continuity and
momentum equations, and optionally the equations for conservative transport of salinity,
temperature and suspended load for both noncohesive sediment (e.g. sand) and cohesive
sediment (mud, clay, etc.). In addition, the vertical turbulent dispersion of momentum and
diffusion of salt, heat and suspended sediment are calculated by means of the standard k−ε
turbulence model. The transport equations are coupled with the momentum equations
through the baroclinic forcing term, whereas the equation of state is employed that relates
density to salinity, temperature and suspended sediment.
SWASH accounts for the following physical phenomena:
• wave propagation, frequency dispersion, shoaling, refraction and diffraction,
• depth-limited wave growth by wind,
• nonlinear wave-wave interactions (including surf beat and triads),
• wave breaking,
• wave runup and rundown,
• moving shoreline,
• bottom friction,
• partial reflection and transmission,
• wave interaction with structures,
• wave interaction with floating objects,
• wave-current interaction,
• wave-induced currents,
• vertical turbulent mixing,
• subgrid turbulence,
• turbulence anisotropy,
• wave damping induced by aquatic vegetation,
• rapidly varied flows,

8 Chapter 2
• tidal waves,
• bores and flood waves,
• wind driven flows,
• space varying wind and atmospheric pressure,
• density driven flows,
• transport of suspended load for (non)cohesive sediment,
• turbidity flows, and
• transport of tracer.
The model has been validated with a series of analytical, laboratory and field test cases.
Overall, the level of agreement between predictions and observations is quite favourable,
particularly in view of the fact that a wide range of wave conditions and topographies were
modelled.
SWASH is proved to reproduce the main features of surf zone dynamics, such as nonlinear
shoaling, wave breaking, wave runup and wave-driven currents. For instance, considering
a typical surf zone where the dominant processes of triad interaction and depth-induced
breaking can be isolated, it was found that the model yields a realistic representation of
the observed frequency spectra, including the overall spectral shape at frequencies above
the spectral peak, and the inclusion of subharmonics. This is followed by a transformation
toward a broadband spectral shape as the waves approach the shoreline.
Such phenomena appear to be rooted in the ability of the staggered (covolume) momentum-
conservative scheme to mimic the dynamics within travelling bores associated with wave
breaking across the surf zone. In addition, because of the use of discrete analogs of the
physical properties of the governing PDEs (e.g. topology, flux conservation) the effect of
discretization error originated from the discretization approximations is thus limited, in
that the numerical solution is merely influenced by the mesh resolution and mesh quality.
Also, the employed SWASH scheme rules out non-physical artefacts that can occur when
using a traditional discretization approach (e.g. finite volume methods).
2.2.4 Relation to Boussinesq-type wave models

SWASH is not a Boussinesq-type wave model. In fact, SWASH may either be run in depth-
averaged mode or multi-layered mode in which the three-dimensional computational do-
main is divided into a fixed number of vertical terrain-following layers. SWASH improves
its frequency dispersion by increasing this number of layers rather than increasing the
order of derivatives of the dependent variables like Boussinesq-type wave models. Yet,
it contains at most second order spatial derivatives, whereas the applied finite difference
approximations are at most second order accurate in both time and space.
In addition, SWASH does not have any numerical filter nor dedicated dissipation mech-
anism to eliminate short wave instabilities. Neither does SWASH include other ad-hoc
measures like the surface roller model for wave breaking, the slot technique for moving
shoreline, and the alteration of the governing equations for modelling wave-current inter-
action. As such, SWASH is very likely to be competitive with the extended Boussinesq-type
wave models in terms of robustness and the computational resource required to provide
reliable model outcomes in challenging wave and flow conditions. Therefore, it can be seen
as an attractive alternative to the Boussinesq-type wave models.
2.2.5 Relation to circulation and coastal flow models

SWASH is a non-hydrostatic wave-flow model and is originally designed for wave trans-
formation in coastal waters. However, with the extension of meteorological and baro-
clinic forcing and solute transport (since version 2.00), this model is capable of using for
large-scale flow and transport phenomena driven by tidal, wind and buoyancy forces. In
this respect, SWASH is very similar to other traditional hydrodynamic models, such as
WAQUA, Delft3D-FLOW, ADCIRC, ROMS, FVCOM, UNTRIM, SLIM and SUNTANS.
They mainly differ in numerics and geometric flexibility, though SWASH supports unstruc-
tured triangular grids (since version 7.01).
The need to accurately predict small-scale coastal flows and transport of contaminants
encountered in environmental issues is becoming more and more recognized. The afore-
mentioned models, however, are orginally designed to simulate large-scale circulation. The
development of these models is often dictated by model limitations, numerical techniques
and computer capabilities. For instance, the hydrostatic pressure assumption prohibits
the models to appropriately simulate surface waves, internal waves, and small-scale flows
around hydraulic structures.
In principle, SWASH has no limitations and can capture flow phenomena with spatial
scales from centimeters to kilometers and temporal scales from seconds to hours. Yet, this
model can be employed to resolve the dynamics of wave transformation, buoyancy flow
and turbulent exchange of momentum, salinity, heat and suspended sediment in shallow
seas, coastal waters, surf zone, estuaries, reefs, rivers and lakes.
2.3 Internal scenarios, shortcomings and coding bugs

Sometimes the user input to SWASH is such that the model produces unreliable or unstable
results. This may be the case, for instance, if the bathymetry is not well resolved or the
boundary conditions are wrong (not well-posed). In addition, SWASH may invoke some
internal scenarios instead of terminating the computations. The reasons for this model
policy is that
10 Chapter 2
• SWASH needs to be robust, and
• the problem may be only very local, or
• the problem needs to be fully computed before it can be diagnosed.
Examples are:
• The minimum depth for checking drying and flooding may be adapted as soon as the
water level is below the bottom.
• A dynamically adjusted time step controlled by the Courant number in a user pre-
scribed range is implemented. This time step control for a particular SWASH run is
provided in the PRINT file.
• Based on a stability criterion due to the explicit treatment of the horizontal eddy
viscosity term in the momentum equations, a maximum of the eddy viscosity is
determined at each time step. The user will be informed about this measure by
means of a warning in the PRINT file when the number of instable points is more
than 1% of the total number of grid points.
Some other problems which the SWASH user may encounter are due to more fundamental
shortcomings, e.g., turbulence modelling, and unintentional coding bugs.
Because of the issues described above, the results may look realistic, but they may (locally)
not be accurate. Any change in these scenarios or shortcomings, in particular newly dis-
covered coding bugs and their fixes, are published on the SWASH website and implemented
in new releases of SWASH.
2.4 Units and coordinate systems

SWASH expects all quantities that are given by the user to be expressed in S.I. units: m,
kg, s and composites of these with accepted compounds, such as Newton (N) and Pascal
(Pa). Consequently, the water level and water depth are in m, flow velocity in m/s, etc.
For wind, (incident) wave and flow direction both the Cartesian and a nautical convention
can be used (see below). Directions and spherical coordinates are in degrees (0 ) and not
in radians.
SWASH operates either in a Cartesian coordinate system or in a spherical coordinate

system, i.e. in a flat plane or on a spherical Earth. In the Cartesian system, all geographic
locations and orientations in SWASH, e.g. for the bottom grid or for output points, are
defined in one common Cartesian coordinate system with origin (0,0) by definition. This
geographic origin may be chosen totally arbitrarily by the user. In the spherical system,
all geographic locations and orientations in SWASH, e.g. for the bottom grid or for output
points, are defined in geographic longitude and latitude. Both coordinate systems are
designated in this manual as the problem coordinate system.
In the input and output of SWASH the direction of wind, (incident) wave and current are
defined according to either
• the Cartesian convention, i.e. the direction to where the vector points, measured
counterclockwise from the positive x−axis of this system (in degrees) or
• a nautical convention (there are more such conventions), i.e. the direction where the
wind or the waves come from, measured clockwise from geographic North.
All other directions, such as orientation of grids, are according to the Cartesian convention!
For regular grids, i.e. uniform and rectangular, Figure 4.1 (in Section 4.5) shows how the
locations of the various grids are determined with respect to the problem coordinates. All
grid points of curvilinear and unstructured grids are relative to the problem coordinate
system.
2.5 Choice of grids and time windows

2.5.1 Introduction
Both spatial grids and time windows need to be defined.
The spatial grids that need to be defined by the user are (if required):
• a computational spatial grid on which SWASH performs the computations,
• one (or more) spatial input grid(s) for the bottom, (initial) current field, (initial)
water level, bottom friction, wind, atmospheric pressure, porosity regions, grain sizes
of armour rocks, heights of breakwaters and quays, vegetation density and drafts of
floating objects (each input grid may differ from the others),
• one (or more) spatial input grid(s) for transport of constituents to define initial and
stationary boundary conditions for constituents, and
• one (or more) spatial output grid(s) on which the user requires output of SWASH.
Wind, bottom friction, grain sizes, heights of porous structures and vegetation density do
not require a grid if they are uniform over the area of interest.
For one-dimensional situations, i.e. ∂/∂y ≡ 0, SWASH can be run in 1D mode.
If a uniform, rectangular computational grid is chosen in SWASH, then all input and output
grids must be uniform and rectangular too, but they may all be different from each other.
If an orthogonal curvilinear computational grid is chosen in SWASH, then each input grid
12 Chapter 2
should be either uniform, rectangular or identical to the used curvilinear computational

grid.
If an unstructured computational spatial grid is chosen in SWASH, then each input grid
should be either uniform, rectangular or identical to the used unstructured grid.
Also, SWASH may operate with different time windows with different time steps (each
may have a different start and end time and time step):
• one computational time window in which SWASH performs the computations,
• one (or more) input time window(s) in which wind and pressure field (if present) are
given by the user (each input window may differ form the others) and
• one (or more) output time window(s) in which the user requires output of SWASH.
During the computation SWASH obtains bottom, current, water level, wind, pressure,
bottom friction, porosity, grain size, structure height and vegetation density information
by tri-linear interpolation from the given input grid(s) and time window(s). The output is
in turn obtained in SWASH by bi-linear interpolation in space from the computational grid;
there is no interpolation in time, the output time is shifted to the nearest computational
time level. Interpolation errors can be reduced by taking the grids and windows as much
as equal to one another as possible (preferably identical). It is recommended to choose
output times such that they coincide with computational time levels.
2.5.2 Computational grid and time window

The computational grid must be defined by the user. The orientation (direction) can
be chosen arbitrarily.
If the computational grid extends outside the input grid, the reader is referred to Sec-
tion 2.5.3 to find the assumptions of SWASH on depth, current, water level, wind, bottom
friction, porosity, grain size, structure height and vegetation density in the non-overlapping
area.
The spatial resolution of the computational grid should be sufficient to resolve relevant de-
tails of the wave field. Usually a good choice is to take the resolution of the computational
grid approximately equal to that of the bottom or current grid. See Chapter 5 for further
details.
Alternatively, the user may apply a curvilinear, boundary-fitted grid. This grid must be
orthogonal, but may either be uniform or nonuniform. The domain boundaries may be
curved. The exception is when a wave spectrum is imposed, in which case the wavemaker
boundaries must be non-curved.
If necessary, an unstructured triangular grid may be used for a further extensive local mesh
refinements (e.g. in the surf zone).
SWASH may not use the entire user-provided computational grid if the user defines ex-
ception values on the bottom grid (see command INPGRID BOTTOM) or on the curvilinear
computational grid (see command CGRID). A computational grid point is either
• wet, i.e. the grid point is included in the computation since it represents water or
• dry, i.e. the grid point is excluded from the simulation since it represents land which
may vary as moving shoreline or
• exceptional, i.e. the grid point is permanently excluded from the computations since
it is so defined by the user. This provides a means to make a line of dams or screens
through the computational domain, separating the flow on both sides. This line
of thin dams may represent a small obstacle with subgrid dimensions that possibly
influence the local flow (e.g. breakwater, jetty, or small harbour).
It must be noted that for parallel runs using MPI the user must indicate an exception value
when reading the bottom levels (by means of command INPGRID BOTTOM EXCEPTION), if
appropriate, in order to obtain good load balancing.
For further suggestions regarding choice of the resolution and orientation of the computa-
tional grid the user is kindly referred to Chapter 5.
The computational time window must be defined by the user. The computational win-
dow in time must start at a time that is early enough that the initial state of SWASH has
propagated through the computational area before reliable output of SWASH is expected.
Before this time the output may not be reliable since usually the initial state is not known.
The computational time step must be given by the user. Since, SWASH is based on explicit
schemes, it is limited by a Courant stability criterion (which couples time and space steps).
Moreover, the accuracy of the results of SWASH are obviously affected by the time step.
Generally, the time step in SWASH should be small enough to resolve the time variations
of computed wave field itself. Usually, it is enough to consider the time variations of the
wave boundary conditions.
2.5.3 Input grid(s) and time window(s)

The bathymetry, current, water level, bottom friction (if spatially variable), wind (if spa-
tially variable), atmospheric pressure, porosity regions, grain sizes, heights of porous struc-
tures (if spatially variable) vegetation density (if spatially variable) and drafts of floating
objects (e.g. moored ships or pontoons) need to be provided to SWASH on so-called input
grids. It is best to make an input grid so large that it completely covers the computational
grid.
When the atmospheric pressure is included, it must be combined with space varying wind.
14 Chapter 2
They may be read from a meteorological file. Space varying wind and pressure is of par-
ticular importance for the simulation of storm surges.
In the region outside the input grid SWASH assumes that the bottom level, the water level,
bottom friction, atmospheric pressure, stone diameter and vegetation density are identical
to those at the nearest boundary of the input grid (lateral shift of that boundary). In the
regions not covered by this lateral shift (i.e. in the outside quadrants of the corners of the
input grid), a constant field equal to the value at the nearest corner point of the input
grid is taken. For the current and wind velocity, SWASH takes 0 m/s for points outside
the input grid, while for porosity and structure height, SWASH takes 1 and 99999 (i.e.
emerged), respectively, for points outside the input grid.
One should choose the spatial resolution for the input grids such that relevant spatial de-
tails in the bathymetry, current, bottom friction, wind and pressure and floating objects
are properly resolved. Special care is required in cases with sharp and shallow ridges (sand
bars, shoals, breakwaters) in the sea bottom and extremely steep bottom slopes. Very
inaccurate bathymetry can result in very inaccurate wave transformation or flooding and
drying. In such cases the ridges are vitally important to obtain good SWASH results. This
requires not only that these ridges should be well represented on the input grid but also
after interpolation on the computational grid. This can be achieved by choosing the grid
lines of the input grid along the ridges (even if this may require some slight ”shifting” of the
ridges) and choosing the computational grid to be identical to the input grid (otherwise the
ridge may be ”lost” in the interpolation from the bottom input grid to the computational
grid). An alternative is to smooth the bottom gradients. But this should be done in a way
that the quality and feature of the bathymetric data is more or less the same.
In SWASH, wind, pressure and bottom friction may be time varying. In that case they
need to be provided to SWASH in so-called input time windows (they need not be identical
with the computational, output or other input windows). It is best to make an input win-
dow larger than the computational time window. SWASH assumes zero values at times
before the earliest begin time of the input parameters (which may be the begin time of any
input parameter such as wind). SWASH assumes constant values (the last values) at times
after the end time of each input parameter. The input windows should start early enough
so that the initial state of SWASH has propagated through the computational area before
reliable output of SWASH is expected.
Finally, one should use a time step that is small enough that time variations in the wind,
pressure and bottom friction are well resolved.
2.5.4 Input grid(s) for transport of constituents

With SWASH some transport phenomena of constituents can be simulated that result
from tidal, wind and wave forcing in stratified flows. The considered constituents are
salinity, temperature and suspended sediment load. The presence of these constituents
will influence the density of water and consequently, they will induce flow through the
baroclinic pressure gradient. In this way, transport of constituents and water flow are
coupled. Examples are salt intrusion in an estuary, sediment transport in turbidity flows
and transport of dissolved matter in lakes and rivers.
Only the background temperature is considered in the model, and the heat exchange flux
at the air-water interface is not taken into account.
With respect to the sediment transport, the following assumptions are made.
• Only suspended load is modelled; bed load is not taken into account.
• In the depth-averaged mode, there is no mass exchange of suspended sediment
between the bed and the flow.
• The intergranular interactions are excluded.
The inclusion of transport of constituent in SWASH must be done by means of an input
grid for each constituent. Such an input grid represents the ambient or background concen-
tration of the corresponding constituent as an initial state, while it provides information
along the open boundaries of the computational domain. The use of this information to
impose a boundary condition for constituent depends on the flow direction. At inflow, the
concentration is prescribed using this information delivered by the input grid. At outflow,
the concentration is determined solely by the concentration in upstream part of the do-
main due to pure advection. It is assumed that the area of interest in which transport
phenomena occur is far away from the open boundaries. The ambient concentration at
open boundaries is therefore supposed to be steady state. However, for unsteady salt in-
trusion in a tidal inlet, the concentration is prescribed at inflow by means of a so-called
Thatcher-Harleman boundary condition. In this way, a smooth (sinusoidal) transition from
the outflow concentration to the inflow boundary condition can be described; see also com-
mand TRANSPORT.
It is advised to make an input grid so large that it completely covers the computational
grid. Otherwise, SWASH assumes that in the region outside the input grid, the constituent
equals to the value at the nearest boundary of the input grid (lateral shift of that bound-
ary).
Finally, both the initial state and boundary conditions of any constituent may be vary in
the vertical direction. This needs to be provided to SWASH with an input grid for each
vertical layer.
2.5.5 Output grids

SWASH can provide output on uniform, rectilinear grids that are independent from the
input grids and from the computational grid. In the computation with an orthogonal cur-
vilinear computational grid, curvilinear output grids are available in SWASH. An output
16 Chapter 2
grid has to be specified by the user with an arbitrary resolution, but it is of course wise to
choose a resolution that is fine enough to show relevant spatial details. It must be poin-
ted out that the information on an output grid is obtained from the computational grid
by bi-linear interpolation (output always at computational time level). This implies that
some inaccuracies are introduced by this interpolation. It also implies that bottom or wind
information on an output plot has been obtained by interpolating twice: once from the
input grid to the computational grid and once from the computational grid to the output
grid. If the input, computational and output grids are identical, then no interpolation
errors occur.
In the regions where the output grid does not cover the computational grid, SWASH as-
sumes output values equal to the corresponding exception value. For example, the default
exception value for the surface elevation is −9. The exception values of output quantities
can be changed by means of the QUANTITY command.
Output can be requested at regular intervals starting at a given time always at computa-
tional times.
2.6 Boundary conditions

The boundaries of the computational grid in SWASH are either land, beach or water.
SWASH provides the following specification of boundary conditions:
• different wavemakers:
– Regular waves by means of Fourier series or time series.

– Irregular unidirectional waves by means of 1D spectrum. The spectrum may
be obtained from observations or by specifying a parametric shape (Pierson-
Moskowitz, Jonswap or TMA).
– Irregular multidirectional waves by means of 2D spectrum. The spectrum may
be obtained from a SWAN run or by specifying a parametric shape (Pierson-
Moskowitz, Jonswap or TMA) while the directional spreading can be expressed
with the well-known cosine power or in terms of the directional standard devi-
ation.
• velocity or discharge,
• periodic boundary conditions,
• full reflection at closed boundaries or solid walls,
• Riemann invariants,
• Sommerfeld or radiation condition,

• internal wave generation, and
• sponge layers.
When imposing irregular waves at a boundary segment by means of a spectrum it is as-

sumed that the variation of the depth along the boundary segment is slowly.
SWASH has the option to make a computation that is nested in SWAN. In such a run,
SWASH interpolates the locations, as specified in the SWAN run with POINTS or CURVE,
to the user-defined boundary, either side or segment (see command BOUNDCOND), of the
concerning SWASH run. The SWAN spectra are written to those locations using the
SWAN command SPECOUT. These wave spectra are employed as boundary conditions us-
ing the SPECSWAN command. It is assumed that the wave spectra are stationary. Also,
both SWASH and SWAN runs must used the same coordinate system, either Cartesian or
spherical.
2.7 Time and date notation

SWASH employs the following time notation: hhmmss.msc with hh, mm, ss and msc
denoting hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds, respectively. Alternatively, SWASH
can run for dates
• between the years 0 and 9999, if ISO-notation is used in the input (recommended)
or
• between the years 1931 and 2030 if two-digit code for years is used (formats 2-6 in
every command that contains moments in time).
2.8 Troubleshooting
Sometimes SWASH produces an error message concerning an instability due to the fact
that the water level is below the bottom level and stops. It is general difficult to find the
cause of this problem. However, some suggestions about possible reasons and what to do
in such cases are given below.
• Checking of the input should always be done at first. It is important that dimensions,
model parameters, numerical parameters and boundary conditions are given in a
correct manner. Also, consult Chapter 5, if necessary. In any case, check the PRINT
file.
• If all input is correct and the model is supposed to converge then the common measure
is always to reduce the time step (see command COMPUTE). Especially in the case of
a transient or spin up a small time step may be necessary. Since this is the easiest
way to overcome problems, it is always a good practice to start with this measure.
18 Chapter 2
Note that sometimes the maximum Courant number should be decrease as well (see
command TIMEI EXPL [cflhig]).
• Sometimes instabilities may be due to wiggles in the solution. A possible remedy

is to choose an upwind discretization or even the first order upwinding. Another
improvement might be due to choosing a flux limiter (e.g. minmod).
• Sometimes the solution of the Poisson pressure equation can not be found as the
BiCGSTAB solver did not converged. This may happen, for instance, when a con-
siderable number of layers (∼ 30) is involved. In such a case the choice for the
ILU preconditioner might be a good alternative (see command NONHYDrostatic ...
PRECond ILU).
Chapter 3
Input and output files
3.1 General
SWASH is one single computer program. The names of the files provided by the user should
comply with the rules of file identification of the computer system on which SWASH is run.
In addition: SWASH does not permit file names longer than 36 characters. Moreover,
the maximum length of the lines in the input files for SWASH is 180 positions.
The user should provide SWASH with a number of files (input files) with the following
information:
• a file containing the instructions of the user to SWASH (the command file),
• file(s) containing: grid, bottom, (initial) current and water level, friction, porosity,
and wind and pressure (if relevant) and
• file(s) containing boundary conditions.
3.2 Input / output facilities

To assist in making the command file, an edit file is available to the user (see Appendix C).
In its original form this file consists only of comments; all lines begin with exclamation
mark. In the file, all commands as given in this User Manual (Chapter 4) are reproduced
as mnemonics for making the final command file. Hence, the user does not need to consult
the User Manual every time to check the correct spelling of keywords, order of data, etc.
The user is advised to first copy the edit file (the copy file should have a different name)
and then start typing commands between the comment lines of the edit file.
SWASH is fairly flexible with respect to output processing. Output is available for many
different quantities. However, the general rule is that output is produced by SWASH only
at the user’s request. The instructions of the user to control output are separated into
three categories:
19
20 Chapter 3
• Definitions of the geographic location(s) of the output. The output locations may be
either on a grid, or along user specified lines (e.g., a given depth contour line) or at
individual output locations.
• Times for which the output is requested.
• Type of output quantities (water level, velocity or discharge, pressure, etc.).
3.3 Print file and error messages

SWASH always creates a print file. Usually the name of this file is identical to the name
of the command file of the computations with the extension (.SWS) replaced with (.PRT).
Otherwise, it depends on the batch file that is used by the user. Consult the Implementation
Manual for more information.
The print file contains an echo of the command file, an overview of the actual physical
and numerical parameters to be used in the simulation run, and possibly warning and
error messages. These messages are usually self-explanatory. The print file also contains
computational results if the user so requests (with command BLOCK or TABLE).
IN ANY CASE, ALWAYS CHECK THE PRINT FILE!

Chapter 4
Description of commands
4.1 List of available commands

The following commands are available to users of SWASH (to look for the commands
quickly, see table of contents and index).
Start-up commands
(a) Start-up commands:
PROJECT title of the problem to be computed

SET sets values of certain general parameters
MODE requests a 1D-mode / 2D-mode of SWASH
COORD to choose between Cartesian and spherical coordinates
Commands for model description

(b) Commands for computational grid:
CGRID defines dimensions of computational grid

READGRID reads an orthogonal curvilinear or unstructured computational grid
VERT defines vertical grid schematisation
(c) Commands for input fields:
INPGRID defines dimensions of e.g. bottom, porosity and friction grids

READINP reads input fields
INPTRAN defines dimensions of grids for transport of constituents
READTRA reads stationary input fields of transport constituents
21
22 Chapter 4
(d) Commands for initial and boundary conditions:
INITIAL specifies an initial flow field and turbulence quantities

BOUND specifies boundary conditions at the boundaries of domain
SOURCE generates waves within domain using (mass) source function
SPONGE defines sponge layers
FLOAT specifies some parameters for floating objects
(e) Commands for physics:
WIND specifies wind speed, direction and wind drag

FRIC specifies bottom friction
VISC includes horizontal and/or vertical turbulent eddy viscosity
POROS includes effects of porous structures
VEGET activates wave damping induced by aquatic vegetation
TRANSP specifies some relevant parameters for transport of constituents
BRE controls wave breaking
(f ) Commands for numerics:
NONHYD to choose approximation for nonhydrostatic pressure

DISCRET to choose space discretization
BOTCEL to determine bottom values in cell centers
TIMEINT to choose time integration
Output commands
(g) Commands for output locations:
FRAME defines an output frame (a regular grid)

GROUP defines an output group (for regular and curvilinear grids)
CURVE defines an output curve
RAY defines a set of straight output lines (rays)
ISOLINE defines a depth or bottom contour (for output along that contour)
POINTS defines a set of individual output points
(h) Commands to write or plot output quantities:

Description of commands 23
QUANTITY defines properties of output quantities

OUTPUT influence format of block and/or table
BLOCK requests a block output (geographic distribution)
TABLE requests a table output (set of locations)
(i) Commands to write or plot intermediate results:
TEST requests an output of intermediate results for testing purposes
Lock-up commands
(j) Commands to lock-up the input file:
COMPUTE starts a computation

STOP end of user’s input
4.2 Sequence of commands

SWASH executes the above command blocks (a,...,j) in the above sequence except (f), (i)
and (j). The commands of the blocks (f) and (i) may appear anywhere before block (j),
except that TEST POINTS must come after READINP BOTTOM. The commands of block (j)
may appear anywhere in the command file (all commands after COMPUTE are ignored by
SWASH, except STOP). A sequence of commands of block (g) is permitted (all commands
will be executed without overriding). Also a sequence of commands of block (h) is permitted
(all commands will be executed without overriding).
Within the blocks the following sequence is to be used:
In block (a) : no prescribed sequence in block

In block (b) : READGRID after CGRID, and VERT after CGRID
In block (c) : READINP after INPGRID (repeat both in this sequence for each quantity)
In block (d) : no prescribed sequence in block
In block (e) : no prescribed sequence in block
In block (f) : no prescribed sequence in block
In block (g) : ISOLINE after RAY (ISOLINE and RAY can be repeated independently)
In block (h) : no prescribed sequence in block
In block (i) : no prescribed sequence in block
In block (j) : STOP after COMPUTE
24 Chapter 4
It must be noted that a repetition of a command may override an earlier occurrence of

that command.
Many commands provide the user with the opportunity to choose an option (e.g. discretiz-
ation scheme) or assign values to coefficients (e.g. bottom friction coefficient). If the user
does not use such option SWASH will use a default value.
Some commands cannot be used in 1D-mode and in case of unstructured grids (see indi-
vidual command descriptions below).
4.3 Command syntax and input / output limitations

The command syntax is given in Appendix B.
Limitations:
• The maximum length of the input lines is 180 characters.
• The maximum length of the file names is 36 characters.
• The maximum number of file names is 99. This can be extended (edit the file
swashinit to change highest unit number of 99 to a higher number).
4.4 Start-up
PROJect ’name’ ’nr’
’title1’
’title2’
’title3’
With this required command the user defines a number of strings to identify the SWASH
run (project name e.g., an engineering project) in the print and plot file.
’name’ is the name of the project, at most 16 characters long.

Default: blanks
’nr’ is the run identification (to be provided as a character string; e.g. the run
number) to distinguish this run among other runs for the same project; it is at
most 4 characters long. It is the only required information in this command.
’title1’ is a string of at most 72 characters provided by the user to appear in the

output of the program for the user’s convenience.
Default: blanks
’title2’ same as ’title1’.
’title3’ same as ’title1’.
SET [level] [nor] [depmin] [maxmes] [maxerr] [seed] &

[grav] [rhowat] [temp] [salinity] [dynvis] [rhoair] [rhosed] &
[cdcap] [prmean] [backvisc] [kappa] &
| NAUTical |
CORIolis < > [outlev]
| -> CARTesian |
With this optional command the user assigns values to various general parameters.
[level] still water level (in m).

Default: [level]=0.
[nor] direction of North with respect to the x−axis (measured counterclockwise);
default [nor]= 90o , i.e. x−axis of the problem coordinate system
points East.
When spherical coordinates are used (see command COORD) the value
of [nor] may not be modified.
[depmin] threshold water depth (in m). Any grid point with water depth smaller than
[depmin] is taken out of the computation.
Default: [depmin] = 0.00005
[maxmes] maximum number of error messages (not necessarily the number of errors!)
during the computation at which the computation is terminated. During the
computational process messages are written to the PRINT file.
Default: [maxmes] = 200
[maxerr] during pre-processing SWASH checks input data. Depending on the severity
of the errors encountered during this pre-processing, SWASH does not start
computations. The user can influence the error level above which SWASH will
not start computations (at the level indicated the computations will continue).
The error level [maxerr] is coded as follows:
1 : warnings,
2 : errors (possibly automatically repaired or repairable by SWASH),
3 : severe errors.
Default: [maxerr] = 1
[seed] is the seed of the random number generator used to select phase angles
26 Chapter 4
for the different Fourier components. By selecting different seeds different

time series can be obtained from the same wave spectrum (see command
BOUNDCOND).
Default: [seed] = 12345678.
[grav] is the gravitational acceleration (in m/s2 ).
Default: [grav] = 9.81
[rhowat] is the density of water (in kg/m3 ).
Default: [rhowat] = 1000.
Note: this is usually the reference density. The actual density depends on
the temperature and salinity of water.
[temp] is the (ambient) temperature of water (in o C).
Default: [temp] = 14.
[salinity] is the (ambient) salinity of water (in ppt).
Default: [salinity] = 31.
[dynvis] is the dynamical viscosity of water (in kg/ms).
Default: [dynvis] = 0.001
[rhoair] is the density of air (in kg/m3 ).
Default: [rhoair] = 1.205
[rhosed] is the density of sediment (in kg/m3 ).
Default: [rhosed] = 2650.
[cdcap] is the maximum value for the wind drag coefficient. A value of [cdcap] = 99999
means no cutting off the drag coefficient. A suggestion for this parameter is
[cdcap] = 2.5× 10−3 .
Default: [cdcap] = 99999.
[prmean] is the mean atmospheric pressure (in N/m2 ). This will be used to correct the
water level along the water level boundaries so that it is consistent with the
local atmospheric pressure. A value of [prmean] = −1 means no correction.
Default: [prmean] = −1.
[backvisc] is the background viscosity (in m2 /s). It may be convenient to specify this
ambient viscosity to account for all forms of unresolved vertical mixing.
The value must be small compared to the vertical viscosity calculated by the
standard k − ε model. Experiences suggest a value of 10−4 to 10−3 m2 /s.
Default: [backvisc] = 0.
[kappa] is the Von Karman constant.
Default: [kappa] = 0.4
CORIOLIS indicates that the Coriolis force will be included.
NAUTICAL indicates that the Nautical convention for wind and current direction (SWASH
input and output) and for incident wave boundary condition will be used
instead of the default Cartesian convention. For definition, see Section 2.4
or Appendix A.
CARTESIAN indicates that the Cartesian convention for wind and current direction (SWASH
input and output) and for incident wave boundary condition will be used.
For definition, see Section 2.4 or Appendix A.
[outlev] defines the amount of output for iterative solvers.

It is coded as follows:
0 : no output,
1 : only fatal errors will be printed,
2 : gives output concerning the iteration process,
3 : additional information about the iteration is printed.
Default: [outlev] = 0
| | |-> TWODimensional |
MODE < NONSTationary > < >
| | | ONEDimensional |
With this optional command the user indicates that the run will be either one-dimensional
(1D-mode, flume) or two-dimensional (2D-mode, basin).
Note that the keyword NONSTATIONARY is obliged.
The default option is NONSTATIONARY TWODIMENSIONAL.
| -> CARTesian
COORDINATES < | -> CCM
| SPHErical <
| QC
Command to choose between Cartesian and spherical coordinates (see Section 2.4).
CARTESIAN all locations and distances are in m. Coordinates are given with respect
to x− and y−axes chosen by the user in the various commands.
SPHERICAL all coordinates of locations and geographical grid sizes are given in degrees;
x is longitude with x = 0 being the Greenwich meridian and x > 0 is East of
this meridian; y is latitude with y > 0 being the Northern hemisphere. Input
and output grids have to be oriented with their x−axis to the East; mesh sizes
are in degrees. All other distances are in meters.
CCM defines the projection method in case of spherical coordinates. CCM means
central conformal Mercator. The horizontal and vertical scales are uniform
in terms of cm/degree over the area shown. In the center of the scale is
identical to that of the conventional Mercator projection (but only at that
center). The area in the projection center is therefore exactly conformal.
28 Chapter 4
QC the projection method is quasi-cartesian, i.e. the horizontal and vertical scales
are equal to one another in terms of cm/degree.
Note that spherical coordinates can also be used for relatively small areas, say 10 or 20
km horizontal dimension. This may be useful if one obtains the boundary conditions by
nesting in an oceanic model which is naturally formulated in spherical coordinates.
Note that in case of spherical coordinates regular grids must always be oriented E-W, N-S,
i.e. [alpc]=0, [alpinp]=0, [alpfr]=0 (see commands CGRID, INPUT GRID and FRAME,
respectively). In addition, spherical coordinates are not supported in case of unstructured
grids.
4.5 Model description

4.5.1 Computational grid
| -> REGular [xpc] [ypc] [alpc] [xlenc] [ylenc] [mxc] [myc] |

| |
CGRID < CURVilinear [mxc] [myc] (EXCeption [xexc] [yexc]) > &
| |
| UNSTRUCtured |
| -> X
REPeating <
| Y
With this required command the user defines the geographic location, size, resolution and
orientation of the computational grid in the problem coordinate system (see Section 2.5.2)
in case of a uniform, rectilinear computational grid, an orthogonal curvilinear grid or an
unstructured triangular mesh. The origin of the regular grid and the direction of the
positive x−axis of this grid can be chosen arbitrary by the user.
REGULAR this option indicates that the computational grid is to be taken as uniform and
rectangular.
CURVILINEAR this option indicates that the computational grid is to be taken as curvilinear.
The user must provide the coordinates of the grid points with command
READGRID COOR.
UNSTRUCTURE this option indicates that the computational grid is to be taken as unstructured.
The user must provide the coordinates of the vertices and the numbering of
triangles with the associated connectivity table with vertices with command
READGRID UNSTRUC.
[xpc] geographic location of the origin of the computational grid in the problem
coordinate system (x−coordinate, in m). See command COORD.
Default: [xpc] = 0.0 (Cartesian coordinates).
In case of spherical coordinates there is no default, the user must give a value.
[ypc] geographic location of the origin of the computational grid in the problem
coordinate system (y−coordinate, in m). See command COORD.
Default: [ypc] = 0.0 (Cartesian coordinates).
In case of spherical coordinates there is no default, the user must give a value.
[alpc] direction of the positive x−axis of the computational grid (in degrees, Cartesian
convention). In 1D-mode, [alpc] should be equal to the direction [alpinp]
(see command INPGRID).
Default: [alpc] = 0.0
[xlenc] length of the computational grid in x−direction (in m). In case of spherical
coordinates [xlenc] is in degrees.
[ylenc] length of the computational grid in y−direction (in m). In 1D-mode, [ylenc]
should be 0. In case of spherical coordinates [ylenc] is in degrees.
[mxc] number of meshes in computational grid in x−direction for a uniform, rectilinear
grid or ξ−direction for a curvilinear grid (this number is one less than the
number of grid points in this domain!).
[myc] number of meshes in computational grid in y−direction for a uniform, rectilinear
grid or η−direction for a curvilinear grid (this number is one less than the
number of grid points in this domain!). In 1D-mode, [myc] should be 0.
EXCEPTION only available in the case of a curvilinear grid. If certain grid points are to be
ignored during the computation (e.g. land points that remain dry i.e. no
flooding; saving computer time and memory), then this can be indicated by
identifying these grid points in the file containing the grid point coordinates
(see command READGRID). For an alternative, see command INPGRID BOTTOM.
[xexc] the value which the user uses to indicate that a grid point is to be ignored
in the computations (this value is provided by the user at the location of the
x−coordinate considered in the file of the x−coordinates, see command
READGRID COOR). Required if the option EXCEPTION is used.
Default: [xexc] = 0.0
[yexc] the value which the user uses to indicate that a grid point is to be ignored
in the computations (this value is provided by the user at the location of the
y−coordinate considered in the file of the y−coordinates, see command
READGRID COOR). Required if the option EXCEPTION is used.
Default: [yexc] = [xexc]
REPEATING this option indicates that the grid is repeated in one specific direction.
It means that information leaving at one end of the domain enters at
the opposite end. So, the current or wave field is periodic in one direction
with the length of the domain in that direction.
NOT FOR 1D-MODE AND UNSTRUCTURED GRIDS.
30 Chapter 4
X the computational grid is repeated in x− or ξ−direction.

This is default.
Y the computational grid is repeated in y− or η−direction.
For illustration of a regular grid with its dimensions, see Figure 4.1.
problem
coordinates
yp−axis
(mxc,myc)
yc−axis
xc−axis
(0,myc) computational grid
(mxc,0)
alpc
ypc (0,0)
xpc problem xp−axis

coordinates
Figure 4.1: Coordinates of the origin [xpc] and [ypc], the orientation [alpc] and the
grid point numbering of the computational grid with respect to the problem coordinates
system. Note that in case of spherical coordinates the xc− and xp−axes both point East.
READgrid COORdinates [fac] ’fname’ [idla] [nhedf] [nhedvec] &
| -> FREe |
| |
| | ’form’ | |
< FORmat < > >
| | [idfm] | |
| |
| UNFormatted |
CANNOT BE USED IN 1D-MODE.
This command READGRID COOR must follow a command CGRID CURV. With this command
(required if the computational grid is orthogonal curvilinear; not allowed in case of a regu-
lar grid) the user controls the reading of the coordinates of the computational grid points.
These coordinates must be read from a file as a vector (x−coordinate, y−coordinate of
each single grid point). See command READINP for the description of the options in this
command READGRID. SWASH will check whether all angles in the grid are > 0 and < 180
degrees. If not, it will print an error message giving the coordinates of the grid points
involved. It is recommended to use grids with angles between 45 and 135 degrees.
| -> TRIAngle |
READgrid UNSTRUCtured < > ’fname’
| EASYmesh |
This command READGRID UNSTRUC must follow a command CGRID UNSTRUC. With this com-
mand (required if the computational grid is unstructured which must be Delaunay; not
allowed in case of a regular or curvilinear grid) the user controls the reading of the (x, y) co-
ordinates of the vertices including boundary markers and a connectivity table for triangles
(or elements). This table contains three corner vertices around each triangle in counter-
clockwise order. This information should be provided by a number of files generated by
one of the following grid generators currently supported by SWASH:
• Triangle (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/quake/public/www/triangle.html)
• Easymesh (http://www-dinma.univ.trieste.it/nirftc/research/easymesh/easymesh.html)
These generators produce Delaunay-type grids. After setting up the vertices and the
connectivity tables for cells and faces (automatically done in SWASH), SWASH will print
some information concerning the used mesh, among others, number of vertices, cells and
faces and minimum and maximum gridsizes.
TRIANGLE the necessary grid information is read from two files as produced by Triangle.
The .node and .ele files are required. The basename of these files must be
indicated with parameter ’fname’.
EASYMESH the necessary grid information is read from two files as produced by
Easymesh. The .n and .e files are required. The basename of these files
must be indicated with parameter ’fname’.
’fname’ basename of the required files, i.e. without extension. Only meant for
Triangle and Easymesh.
32 Chapter 4
| M
VERTical [kmax] < [thickness] < >
| -> PERC
With this optional command the user indicates that the run will be in multi-layered mode
and controls the distribution of vertical layers.
[kmax] number of vertical layers.

[thickness] layer thickness (in meters or as percentage of water depth).
M thickness is given in meters. This layer has a fixed thickness.
PERC thickness is given as percentage. This layer has a variable thickness.
This is default.
Notes:
• The layers are numbered from top (=1) to bottom (=[kmax]).
• If no [thickness] is given, the layers are distributed equidistantly.
• The sum of thicknesses defined as percentages must be 100.
• At least one layer with variable thickness must be given.
• The layers interfaces are equivalent to the well-known sigma planes, if all the layers
have a variable thickness.
• For short wave simulations, it is advised to choose variable thicknesses only, preferably
equidistantly distributed.
• Layers with a fixed thickness are not supported in case of unstructured grids.
4.5.2 Input grids and data
| BOTtom |
| |
| WLEVel |
| |
| | CURrent |
| < |
| | VX |
| | VY |
| |
| FRiction |
| |
| | WInd |
INPgrid (< < >) &
| | WX |
| | WY |
| |
| PRessure |
| |
| POROsity |
| |
| PSIZe |
| |
| HSTRUCture |
| |
| NPLAnts |
| |
| FLOAT |
| -> REGular [xpinp] [ypinp] [alpinp] [mxinp] [myinp] [dxinp] [dyinp] |

| |
< CURVilinear STAGgered > &
| |
| UNSTRUCtured |
(EXCeption [excval]) &
| -> Sec |
(NONSTATionary [tbeginp] [deltinp] < MIn > [tendinp])
| HR |
| DAy |
OPTION CURVILINEAR AND UNSTRUCTURED NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
With this required command the user defines the geographic location, size and orientation
of an input grid and also the time characteristics of the variable if it is not stationary. If
this is the case (the variable is not stationary), the variable should be given in a sequence
of fields, one for each time step [deltinp]. The actual reading of values of bottom, wind,
pressure, etc. from file is controlled by the command READINP.
This command INPGRID must precede the following command READINP.
There can be different grids for bottom level (BOTTOM), current (CURRENT), bottom friction
34 Chapter 4
coefficient (FRICTION), wind velocity (WIND), atmospheric pressure (PRESSURE), porosity

layers (POROSITY), stone diameters (PSIZE), heights (HSTRUCTURE) of porous structures
and vegetation density (NPLANTS) and drafts of floating objects like a ship or pontoon
(FLOAT).
If the current velocity components are available on different grids, then option VX, VY can
define these different grids for the x− and y−component of the current, respectively (but
the grids must have identical orientation). Different grids for VX and VY may be useful if
the data are generated by a circulation model using a staggered grid. The same holds for
the wind velocity components, i.e. WX and WY.
In the case of a regular grid (option REGULAR in the INPGRID command) the current and
wind velocity vectors are defined with the x− and y−component of the current or wind
vector with respect to the x−axis of the input grid. In case of an orthogonal curvilinear
grid (option CURVILINEAR in the INPGRID command) the current and wind velocity vectors
are defined with the x− and y−component of the current or wind vector with respect to
the x−axis of the problem coordinate system.
In case of an unstructured grid (option UNSTRUC in the INPGRID command) the current and
wind velocity vectors are defined with the x− and y−component of the current or wind
vector with respect to the x−axis of the problem coordinate system.
Porosity layers can be placed inside the computational domain to simulate reflection and
transmission effects of porous structures such as rubble mound breakwaters and jetties.
Porosity is defined as the volumetric porosity of the structures and its value is in between
0 and 1. A porosity value of 0.45 is typically used for breakwaters. A small value (< 0.1)
should be interpreted as impermeable, like walls and dams. Also structure heights (relat-
ive to the bottom) can be specified so that both submerged and emerged breakwaters is
allowed.
If the user specifies an input grid for the atmospheric pressure, then an input grid for
wind must be included as well. Both space varying wind and pressure may be read from a
meteorological file.
For wind velocity, friction coefficient, grain size, height of porous structures and vegetation
density it is also possible to use a constant value over the computational field (see com-
mands WIND, FRICTION, POROSITY and VEGETATION, respectively). No grid definition for
wind, friction, grain size, structure height or vegetation density is then required.
Note that in case of options BOTTOM, POROSITY, PSIZE, HSTRUCTURE and NPLANTS only
stationary input field is allowed.
If the computational grid is unstructured, the input grids can be either regular or identical
to the used computational grid.
If land points remain dry during the computation (no flooding!), then these points can
be ignored. In this way, simulation time and internal memory can be saved. This can be
done by indicating bottom level in these points as exception value. See command INPGRID
BOTTOM EXCEPTION. For parallel runs using MPI, an exception value for bottom levels
should be prescribed in order to have a good load-balancing!
Exception value for bottom levels can also be used to take into account dams, screens,
quays or jetties in the domain. In addition, they may represent small obstacles with sub-
grid dimensions that possibly influence the local flow pattern. In this way, the user can
defined a line of thin dams that separate the flow on both sides.
See Section 2.5.3 for more information on input grids.

BOTTOM defines the input grid of the bottom level. (For the definition of the bottom
level, see command READINP).
WLEV defines the input grid of the water level. (For the definition of the water
level, see command READINP).
CURRENT defines the input grid of the current field (same grid for x− and y−components).
VX defines the input grid of the x−component of the current field (different grid
than y−component but same orientation).
VY defines the input grid of the y−component of the current field (different grid
than x−component but same orientation).
FRICTION defines the input grid of the bottom friction coefficient (defined in command
FRICTION, not to be confused with this option FRICTION!).
WIND defines the input grid of the wind velocity field (same grid for x− and
y−component).
If neither of the commands WIND and READINP WIND is used it is assumed
that there is no wind.
WX defines the input grid of the x−component of the wind velocity field
(different grid than y−component but same orientation).
WY defines the input grid of the y−component of the wind velocity field
(different grid than x−component but same orientation).
PRESSURE defines the input grid of the atmospheric pressure. (For the definition of
the atmospheric pressure, see command READINP).
POROSITY defines the input grid of the porosity distribution.
If neither of the commands POROSITY and READINP POROSITY is used it is
assumed that there is no porous structure.
PSIZE defines the input grid of the grain sizes of porous structures.
HSTRUCTURE defines the input grid of the heights of porous structures.
NPLANTS defines input grid of the horizontally varying vegetation density (defined
in command VEGETATION).
FLOAT defines the input grid of the draft of floating objects. (For the definition
of the draft, see command READINP).
REGULAR means that the input grid is uniform and rectangular.
36 Chapter 4
[xpinp] geographic location (x−coordinate) of the origin of the input grid in

problem coordinates (in m) if Cartesian coordinates are used or in degrees if
spherical coordinates are use (see command COORD).
Default: [xpinp] = 0. In case of spherical coordinates there is no default, the
user must give a value.
[ypinp] geographic location (y−coordinate) of the origin of the input grid in
problem coordinates (in m) if Cartesian coordinates are used or in degrees if
spherical coordinates are use (see command COORD).
Default: [ypinp] = 0. In case of spherical coordinates there is no default, the
user must give a value.
[alpinp] direction of the positive x−axis of the input grid (in degrees, Cartesian convention).
See command COORD.
Default: [alpinp] = 0.
[mxinp] number of meshes in x−direction of the input grid (this number is one less
than the number of grid points in this direction!).
[myinp] number of meshes in y−direction of the input grid (this number is one less
than the number of grid points in this direction!).
In 1D-mode, [myinp] should be 0.
[dxinp] mesh size in x−direction of the input grid,
in m in case of Cartesian coordinates or
in degrees if spherical coordinates are used, see command COORD.
[dyinp] mesh size in y−direction of the input grid,
in m in case of Cartesian coordinates or
in degrees if spherical coordinates are used, see command COORD.
In 1D-mode, [dyinp] may have any value.
Default: [dyinp] = [dxinp].
CURVILINEAR means that the input grid is curvilinear; this option is available only if the
computational grid is curvilinear as well. The input grid is identical
to the computational grid.
NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
STAGGERED means that the input grid of a grid-oriented (not Cartesian!) velocity
component u or v is staggered in y− or x−direction, respectively.
The velocity components are given in their points of definition according
to the Arakawa C-grid staggering.
NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
UNSTRUCTURE means that the input grid is unstructured; this option is available only if the
computational grid is unstructured as well. The input grid must be identical
to the computational grid.
NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
EXCEPTION certain points inside the given grid that are to be ignored during the
computation can be identified by means of an exception value as given in
the corresponding input file as controlled by the command READINP.
NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
[excval] exception value; required if the option EXCEPTION is used.

Note: if [fac] 6= 1 (see command READINP), [excval] must be given as
[fac] times the exception value.
NONSTATION the variable is nonstationary (given in a time sequence of fields).
NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
[tbeginp] begin time of the first field of the variable, the format is:
1 : ISO-notation 19870530.153000
2 : (as in HP compiler) ’30−May−87 15:30:00’
3 : (as in Lahey compiler) 05/30/87.15:30:00
4 : 15:30:00
5 : 87/05/30 15:30:00’
6 : as in WAM 8705301530
7 : 153000.000
This format is installation dependent. See Implementation Manual or ask the
person who installed SWASH on your computer. Default is option 7.
[deltinp] time interval between fields, the unit is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
[tendinp] end time of the last field of the variable, the format is:
1 : ISO-notation 19870530.153000
4 : 15:30:00
5 : 87/05/30 15:30:00’
6 : as in WAM 8705301530
7 : 153000.000
| BOTtom |
| |
| WLEVel |
| |
| CURrent |
| |
| FRiction |
| | | ’fname1’ |
READinp < WInd > [fac] < > [idla] &
| | | SERIes ’fname2’ |
38 Chapter 4
| PRessure |
| |
| POROsity |
| |
| PSIZe |
| |
| HSTRUCture |
| |
| NPLAnts |
| |
| FLOAT |
| -> FREe |
| |
| | ’form’ | |
[nhedf] ([nhedt]) ([nhedvec]) < FORmat < > >
| | [idfm] | |
| |
| UNFormatted |
With this required command the user controls the reading of values of the indicated vari-
ables from file. This command READINP must follow a command INPGRID.
If the variables are in one file, then the READINP commands should be given in the same
sequence as the sequence in which the variables appear in the file.
BOTTOM with this option the user indicates that bottom levels (in m) are to be read from
file (bottom level positive downward relative to an arbitrary horizontal datum
level). The sign of the input can be changed with option [fac] = −1. (see below).
WLEV with this option the user indicates that water levels (in m) are to be read from
file (water level positive upward relative to the same datum level as used in
option BOTTOM). Sign of input can be changed with option [fac] = −1. If the
water level is constant in space and time, the user can use the command SET
to add this (still) water level to the still water depth.
CURRENT rectilinear (curvilinear) input grid: with this option the user indicates that
the x− and y−component (ξ− and η−component) (in m/s) are to be read from
one and the same file (with one READINP command). With this option SWASH
reads first all x−components (ξ−components), and then all y−components
(η−components) (see [idla]). The first component (x− or ξ−component) is
always eastward oriented and the second one (y− or η−component) is always
northward oriented. There is one exception: in case of rotated rectilinear grid,
the x− and y−components are taken along the direction of the grid lines.
unstructured input grid: with this option the user indicates that the x− and
y−component (in m/s) are to be read from one and the same file (with one
READINP command). With this option SWASH reads first all x−components,
and then all y−components. The order of these values to be read is identical
to that of the unstructured computational grid.
FRICTION with this option the user indicates that friction coefficient is to be read from
file for Manning or Chezy formula’s or Nikuradse roughness height. If the
coefficients are constant in space and time: see command FRICTION.
WIND rectilinear (curvilinear) input grid: with this option the user indicates that
the x− and y−component (ξ− and η−component) (in m/s) are to be read from
one and the same file (with one READINP command). With this option SWASH
reads first all x−components (ξ−components), and then all y−components
(η−components) (see [idla]). The first component (x− or ξ−component) is
always eastward oriented and the second one (y− or η−component) is always
northward oriented. There is one exception: in case of rotated rectilinear grid,
the x− and y−components are taken along the direction of the grid lines.
If the wind is constant, see command WIND.
PRESSURE with this option the user indicates that atmospheric pressures (in N/m2 ) are
to be read from file. Unit can be changed with option [fac] (see below).
POROSITY with this option the user indicates that volumetric porosity is to be read from
file. Porosity values less than 1 indicates the location of porous structures. A
value of 1 represents water points. Regions with small porosity values (< 0.1)
will be treated as impermeable regions, i.e. land points.
PSIZE with this option the user indicates that grain sizes (in m) of porous structures
are to be read from file. If the grain size is constant for all porous structures
then see command POROSITY for specification.
HSTRUCTURE with this option the user indicates that heights (in m) of porous structures
(relative to the bed level) are to be read from file. If the height is constant
for all porous structures then see command POROSITY for specification.
NPLANTS with this option the user indicates that horizontally varying vegetation
density (per m2 ) is to be read from file. If the density is constant then
see command VEGETATION for specifcation.
FLOAT with this option the user indicates that the draft of floating object (in m) is
to be read from file (draft positive downward relative to an arbitrary horizontal
datum level). The sign of the input can be changed with option [fac] = −1.
(see below).
[fac] SWASH multiplies all values that are read from file with [fac]. For instance
if the bottom levels are given in unit decimeter, one should make [fac]=0.1 to
obtain levels in m. To change sign of bottom level use a negative value of [fac].
Note that [fac] = 0 is not allowed!
Default: [fac]=1.
’fname1’ name of the file with the values of the variable.
SERIES with this option (only for MODE NONSTATIONARY) the user indicates that the
names of the files containing the nonstationary variable(s) are located in a
40 Chapter 4
separate file with name ’fname2’ (see below).

’fname2’ name of file that contains the names of the files where the variables
are given. These names are to be given in proper time sequence. SWASH reads
the next file when the previous file end has been encountered. In these files the
input should be given in the same format as in the above file ’fname1’ (that
implies that a file should start with the start of an input time step).
[idla] prescribes the order in which the values of bottom levels and other fields
should be given in the file.
=1: SWASH reads the map from left to right starting in the upper-left-hand
corner of the map (it is assumed that the x−axis of the grid is pointing
to the right and the y−axis upwards). A new line in the map should
start on a new line in the file. The lay-out is as follows:
1,myc+1 2,myc+1 ... mxc+1, myc+1

1,myc 2,myc ... mxc+1, myc
... ... ... ...
1,1 2,1 ... mxc+1, 1
=2: as [idla]=1 but a new line in the map need not start on a new line in
the file.
=3: SWASH reads the map from left to right starting in the lower-left-hand
corner of the map. A new line in the map should start on a new line in
the file. The lay-out is as follows:
1,1 2,1 ... mxc+1, 1

1,2 2,2 ... mxc+1, 2
... ... ... ...
1,myc+1 2,myc+1 ... mxc+1, myc+1
=4: as [idla]=3 but a new line in the map need not start on a new line
in the file.
=5: SWASH reads the map from top to bottom starting in the lower-left-hand
corner of the map. A new column in the map should start on a new line in
the file. The lay-out is as follows:
1,1 1,2 ... 1, myc+1

2,1 2,2 ... 2, myc+1
... ... ... ...
mxc+1,1 mxc+1,2 ... mxc+1, myc+1
=6: as [idla]=5 but a new column in the map need not start on a new line
in the file.
Default: [idla]=1
[nhedf] is the number of header lines at the start of the file. The text in the header
lines is reproduced in the PRINT file created by SWASH (see Section 3.3). The
file may start with more header lines than [nhedf] because the start of the
file is often also the start of a time step and possibly also of a vector
variable (each having header lines, see below, [nhedt] and [nhedvec]).
Default: [nhedf]=0
[nhedt] only if variable is time dependent: number of header lines in the file at the
start of each time level. A time step may start with more header lines than
[nhedt] because the variable may be a vector variable which has its own header
lines (see below [nhedvec]).
Default: [nhedt]=0
[nhedvec] for each vector variable: number of header lines in the file at the start of
each component (e.g., x− or y−component).
Default: [nhedvec]=0
FREE With this option the user indicates that the values are to be read with free
format. Free format is a standard of the computer programming language
FORTRAN. The free format conventions in reading from a file are almost the
same as the conventions for the command syntax given elsewhere in this manual;
the most important differences are:
1. There are no continuation marks, reading continues until the required
number of data has been read, or until a slash (/) is encountered.
2. Input lines can be longer than 80 characters (depending on the operating
system of the computer).
3. Comment is not allowed.
With free format empty fields, repetition factors, and closure of a line by a slash,
can be used.
FORMAT with this option the user indicates that fixed format (FORTRAN convention) is
to be used when reading the values from file. The format can be defined in one
of two ways, by giving the format number [idfm] or the format string ’form’.
’form’ a user−specified format string according to Fortran convention, e.g.
’(10X,12F5.0)’.
[idfm] this format number is interpreted as follows:
=1: Format according to BODKAR convention (a standard of the Ministry
of Transport and Public Works in the Netherlands).
Format string: (10X,12F5.0).
=5: Format (16F5.0), i.e. an input line consists of 16 fields of 5 places each.
UNFORMATTED is a form of reading without conversion (binary files). Not recommended for
ordinary use.
If the file does not contain a sufficient number of data (i.e. less than the number of grid
42 Chapter 4
points of the input grid), SWASH will write an error message to the PRINT file, and if
[itest]>0 (see command TEST) it will reproduce the data in the PRINT file, using the
lay-out according to [idla]=1. This echo of the data to print file is also made if the
READINP command is embedded between two TEST commands in the command file as
follows:
TEST 120
READINP ....
TEST 0
| SALinity |
| |
INPtrans < TEMPerature > &
| |
| SEDiment |
| -> REGular [xpinp] [ypinp] [alpinp] [mxinp] [myinp] [dxinp] [dyinp] |

< > &
| CURVilinear |
(EXCeption [excval]) &
(NONUNIForm [kmax])
OPTION CURVILINEAR NOT FOR 1D-MODE.
With this command the user defines the geographic location, size and orientation of a
stationary input grid for the transport of constituent. This input grid thus supplies initial
and stationary boundary conditions for the considered constituent. The actual reading of
constituent values from file is controlled by the command READTRANS.
This command INPTRANS must precede the following command READTRANS.
There can be different grids for salinity (SALINITY), temperature or heat (TEMPERATURE)
and suspended sediment load (SEDIMENT).
See command INPGRID for the description of the options in this command INPTRANS.
This command is not supported in case of unstructured grids.
See Section 2.5.4 for more information on (input) grids for transport of constituents.
NONUNIFORM the constituent is nonuniform in vertical.

[kmax] the number of layers representing the number of input fields as given in
a sequence (see command READTRANS). This number must be equal to the
number of vertical layers in multi-layered mode (see command VERTICAL)
or 1 (i.e. uniform in vertical).
Default: [kmax] = 1
| SALinity |
| | | ’fname1’ |
READtrans < TEMPerature > [fac] < > [idla] &
| | | LAYers ’fname2’ |
| SEDiment |
| -> FREe |
| |
| | ’form’ | |
[nhedf] < FORmat < > >
| | [idfm] | |
| |
| UNFormatted |
With this command the user controls the reading of initial and boundary values of trans-
port constituents from file. This command READTRANS must follow a command INPTRANS.
The constituents that can be read are salinity (SALINITY) (in ppt, psu or kg/m3 ), temper-
ature (TEMPERATURE) (in o C) and suspended sediment load (SEDIMENT) (in kg/m3 ).
See command READINP for the description of the options in this command READTRANS.
LAYERS with this option (only for multi-layered mode) the user indicates that the
names of the files containing the nonuniform constituent are resided in a
separate file with name ’fname2’ (see below).
’fname2’ name of file that contains the names of the files where the constituents
are given. These names are to be given in proper sequence, i.e. from top
(first layer) to bottom (last layer). SWASH reads the next file when the
previous file end has been encountered. In these files the input should be
given in the same format as in the above file ’fname1’.
4.5.3 Initial and boundary conditions

44 Chapter 4
| -> CONstant [wlev] [vx] [vy] [tke] [epsilon]

|
INITial < ZERO
|
| STEAdy
This command can be used to specify the initial values for flow variables.
CONSTANT the initial flow and turbulence quantities are set to a constant.
[wlev] the water level.
[vx] the u−component of velocity.
[vy] the v−component of velocity.
[tke] the turbulent kinetic energy.
[epsilon] the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy.
ZERO Both the initial water level and velocity components are set to zero.
STEADY If this option is specified, the initial velocities will be derived from
the water levels using the Chezy formula for steady flow. This can
shorten the spin-up time of the SWASH run and can be meaningful
in the case of quasi-steady flow condition (e.g. flow in a river).
| PM |
| | | -> SIG | | -> PEAK |
BOUnd SHAPespec < -> JONswap [gamma] > < > < > &
| | | RMS | | MEAN |
| TMA |
| -> POWer |
DSPR < >
| DEGRees |
This command BOUND SHAPESPEC defines the shape of the spectra (both in frequency and
direction) at the boundary of the computational grid or in the computational domain using
source function for internal wave generation in case of parametric spectral input (see either
command BOUNDCOND or command SOURCE).
PM Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum will be used.

JONSWAP JONSWAP spectrum will be used. This is default.
[gamma] peak enhancement parameter of the JONSWAP spectrum.
Default: [gamma]=3.3
TMA A modified JONSWAP spectrum for finite depth will be used.
SIG The significant wave height (for definition, see Appendix A) is used as
the characteristic wave height.
This is default.
RMS The RMS wave height (for definition, see Appendix A) is used as
the characteristic wave height.
PEAK The peak period is used as the characteristic wave period.
This is default.
MEAN Tm01 (for definition, see Appendix A) is used as the characteristic wave period.
DSPR option for expressing the width of the directional distribution; the distribution
function itself is cosm (θ).
POWER the directional width is expressed with the power m itself.
This option is default.
DEGREES the directional width is expressed in terms of the directional standard deviation
of the cosm (θ) distribution (for definition, see Appendix A).
If this command is not used, the JONSWAP option will be used with [gamma]=3.3 and POWER
for the directional width.
| North |
| NW |
| West |
| SW | | -> CCW |
| -> SIDE < South > < > |
| | SE | | CLOCKWise | |
| | East | |
| | NE | |
| | | |
BOUndcond < | [k] | > &
| |
| |
| | -> XY < [x] [y] > | |
| | | |
| SEGMent < | < [i] [j] > | > |
| IJ < > |
| | < [k] > | |
BTYPe WLEV|VEL|DISCH|RIEMann|LRIEmann|WEAKrefl|SOMMerfeld|OUTFlow &
LAYer [k] | HYPerbolic | LOGarithmic &

46 Chapter 4
SMOOthing [period] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY &
ADDBoundwave &
| FOURier [azero] < [ampl] [omega] [phase] >

| REGular [h] [per] [dir]
| CONstant < SPECTrum [h] [per] [dir] [dd] [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
| | SERIes ’fname’ [itmopt]
| | SPECFile ’fname’ [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
< &
| | FOURier < [len] [azero] < [ampl] [omega] [phase] > >
| | REGular < [len] [h] [per] [dir] >
| | SPECTrum < [len] [h] [per] [dir] [dd] [cycle] S|MI|HR|DA >
| VARiable < SERIes < [len] ’fname’ [itmopt] >
| SPECFile < [len] ’fname’ [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY >
| SPECSwan ’fname’ [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
This command BOUNDCOND defines a boundary condition at the boundary. It consists of two
parts, the first part defines the boundary side or segment where the boundary condition
will be given, the second part defines the parameters.
There are two ways to define the part of the boundary at which the boundary condition is
imposed. The first (SIDE) is easiest if the boundary is one full side of the computational
grid, although it should not be used for curvilinear grids. The second (SEGMENT) can be
used if the boundary segment goes around the corner of the grid, or if the segment is only
part of one side of the domain.
This BOUNDCOND command can be given a number of times, i.e. to define boundary condi-
tions on various sides or segments of the boundary. One BOUNDCOND command can be used
for only one side or one contiguous segment.
Note that command BOUNDCOND can not be combined with the application of mass source
function for internal wave generation (see command SOURCE).
Note that only incident wave direction perpendicular to the boundary is allowed in case of
unstructured grids.
SIDE the boundary is one full side of the computational grid (in 1D cases either
of the two ends of the 1D grid).
SHOULD NOT BE USED IN CASE OF CURVILINEAR GRIDS!
NORTH, ... indicates on which side the boundary condition is applied. N means the
boundary is the north edge (if present) of the computational area, likewise
for W is west, S is south, E is east, NW is northwest, NE is northeast,
SW is southwest and SE is southeast. The side does not have to face exactly
the given direction (the nearest direction of the normal to the side is taken;
this direction is determined as the normal to the sum of the vectors joining
the grid points on the boundary; there is an interruption in the boundary
(due to the occurrence of exception values) then this interruption is ignored
in the summation).
Note: in case of Cartesian coordinates, the direction of the problem coordinate
system must be defined by the user (see the SET ...[north] command), by
default the positive x−axis points East.
ONLY MEANT FOR STRUCTURED GRIDS.
[k] indicates on which side of the unstructured grid the boundary condition is
applied. The value of [k] corresponds to the boundary marker as indicated in
file(s) produced by a grid generator (such as in the last column of the Triangle
.node file and the Easymesh .n file or the last part of file fort.14). Boundary
markers are tags to identify which vertices occur on a boundary of the mesh.
It is assumed that the full side in question is represented by a single
boundary marker.
ONLY MEANT FOR UNSTRUCTURED MESHES.
CCW, see description of [len] below; these option are only effective if the
CLOCKWISE option VARIABLE is used (see below).
SEGMENT is used if SIDE is not used, i.e. either the boundary segment goes
around a corner of the grid, or the segment is only part of one side of the
grid. The distance along the segment (see [len] below) is measured
from the first point of the segment (see XY or IJ).
XY the segment is defined by means of a series of points in terms of problem
coordinates; these points do not have to coincide with grid points. The
(straight) line connecting two points must be close to grid lines of the
computational grid (the maximum distance is one hundredth of the length of
the straight line).
[x], [y] problem coordinates of a point of the boundary segment (see command COORD).
IJ the segment is defined by means of a series of computational grid points
given in terms of grid indices; not all grid points on the segment have to be
mentioned. If two points are on the same grid line, intermediate points are
assumed to be on the segment as well.
[i], [j] grid indices of a point of the segment. Values of [i] range from 1 to [mxc]+1
and values of [j] from 1 and [myc]+1 ([mxc] and [myc] as defined in the
command CGRID).
[k] index of boundary vertex of the segment. This can be obtained in a grid
generator file (.node and .n files of Triangle and Easymesh, respectively).
The order must be counterclockwise!
BTYPE with this option the type of boundary condition is given.
48 Chapter 4
WLEV water level is imposed.

Required further specification by means of Fourier series or time series.
VEL velocity normal to the boundary is imposed.
DISCH discharge per unit width normal to the boundary is imposed.
Required further specification by means of Fourier series
√ or time series.
RIEMANN Riemann invariant is imposed. It is defined as u ± 2 gh with
u the velocity normal to the boundary and h the water depth.
The sign depends on the location of the boundary. The plus sign refers
to an inflow velocity at the western/left and southern/lower boundaries,
and the minus sign refers to inflow velocity at the eastern/right and
northern/upper boundary. This boundary condition is particularly meant
for a supercritical flow or hydraulic jump in e.g. rivers or open channels.
Required further specification by means of Fourier series or time q
series.
LRIEMANN linearized Riemann invariant is imposed. It is defined as u ± ζ g/d
with u the velocity normal to the boundary, ζ the water level and d the
bottom level. The sign depends on the location of the boundary. The plus
sign refers to an inflow velocity at the western/left and southern/lower
boundaries, and the minus sign refers to inflow velocity at the eastern/right
and northern/upper boundary. Note that linearized Riemann invariants can
only be applied if the water level (ζ) is small compared to the local bottom
level (d). This is mainly applicable for a subcritical flow in relative deep
waters. Examples are tidal flows in a continental shelf or in a harbour.
WEAKREFL the boundary condition is weakly reflective.
Required further specification by means of Fourier series or time series
of water level, or regular or irregular waves by means of a spectrum.
SOMMERFELD Sommerfeld radiation condition is imposed. This condition is especially
useful for near-linear long waves at very shallow water.
No further specification is needed.
OUTFLOW water depth is aligned to bottom level (for supercritical river flow only
to obtain a so-called S2 backwater curve.)
No further specification is needed.
LAYER indicates a layer where the boundary condition is given.
[k] layer index (1 ≤ [k] ≤ [kmax]).
HYPERBOLIC the vertical hyperbolic cosine profile for velocity at the boundary is assumed.
LOGARITHMIC the vertical logarithmic profile for velocity at the boundary is assumed.
SMOOTHING with this option a ramp function is applied to start up the simulation smoothly.
[period] the smoothing period of which the unit is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
ADDBOUNDWAV with this option second order bound long wave is added to the first order,
irregular waves.
CONSTANT with this option the boundary condition is constant along the side or segment.
FOURIER the Fourier series is defined by means of the following parameters:
[azero] the amplitude for zero frequency is given (in m).
[ampl] the amplitudes for a number of components are given (in m).
[omega] the angular frequencies for a number of components are given (in rad s−1 ).
[phase] the phase for a number of components are given (in degrees).
REGULAR monochromatic, long-crested wave is defined with the following parameters:
[h] the wave height (in m).
[per] the wave period (in s).
[dir] the wave direction (in degrees; Cartesian or Nautical convention, see
command SET).
Default: no specification of [dir] means incident direction is perpendicular
to the boundary (only in case of rectilinear grid).
SPECTRUM the wave spectrum is defined by means of the following spectral parameters
(see command BOUND SHAPE for spectral shape):
[h] the characteristic wave height (in m).
[h] is the value of the significant wave height, if option SIG was chosen
in command BOUND SHAPE or
[h] is the value of the RMS wave height, if option RMS was chosen
in command BOUND SHAPE.
[per] the characteristic wave period (in s).
[per] is the value of the peak period, if option PEAK was chosen
in command BOUND SHAPE or
[per] is the value of the mean period Tm01 , if option MEAN was chosen
in command BOUND SHAPE.
[dir] the peak wave direction (in degrees; Cartesian or Nautical convention, see
command SET).
Default: no specification of [dir] means incident direction is perpendicular
to the boundary (only in case of rectilinear grid).
[dd] coefficient of directional spreading; a cosm (θ) distribution is assumed.
[dd] is interpreted as the directional standard deviation in degrees,
if the option DEGREES is chosen in the command BOUND SHAPE.
[dd] is interpreted as the power m, if the option POWER is chosen
in the command BOUND SHAPE.
Default: [dd] = 0., i.e. no directional spreading.
[cycle] the cyclic period of the time series of surface elevation to be synthesized.
This may correspond to the time period over which surface elevation is
outputted after steady-state condition has been established. The
corresponding unit is indicated in the next option:
50 Chapter 4
SEC unit seconds

MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
SERIES the time series is given in a file.
This file is for only one location; it has a number of lines which each contain
2 numbers, i.e.: time, quantity. The notation of time is indicated by [itmopt]
(see below). However, if time is represented as a real number in seconds, then
do not specify [itmopt]. The quantity depends on the type of boundary
condition (see command BTYPE).
Example of such a file containing surface elevation in meters ([itmopt] = 7):
000000.000 0.0000000E+00
000001.000 4.2307975E-08
000002.000 1.6923190E-07
000003.000 3.8077177E-07
000004.000 6.7692758E-07
000005.000 1.0576993E-06
000006.000 1.5230870E-06
000007.000 2.0730906E-06
’fname’ name of the file containing the time series.

[itmopt] time coding option. The following format can be employed:
1 : ISO-notation 19870530.153000
4 : 15:30:00
5 : 87/05/30 15:30:00’
6 : as in WAM 8705301530
7 : 153000.000
Default: no specification of [itmopt] means time is represented as
a real number in seconds.
SPECFILE the wave spectrum is given in a file. There are two types of files:
• files containing 1D or non-directional wave spectrum
(usually from measurements), and
• files containing 2D or directional wave spectrum
(possibly from a SWAN run).
A file containing the 1D wave spectrum is for only one location; it has
the string SPEC1D on the first line of the file and a number of lines which
each contain 2 numbers, i.e.: frequency in Hz, variance density in m2 /Hz.
Example of such a file:
SPEC1D
3.8602E-03 5.2168E-01
5.7903E-03 1.0230E+00
7.7204E-03 1.4567E+00
9.6505E-03 1.7232E+00
1.1581E-02 1.8832E+00
1.3511E-02 1.7570E+00
1.5441E-02 1.3429E+00
1.7371E-02 9.8666E-01
The structure of the files containing directional spectrum is described in

Appendix D of the SWAN User Manual. These files may only contain
stationary wave spectra, and can be used for one location only.
’fname’ name of the file containing the wave spectrum.
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
VARIABLE with this option the boundary condition can vary along the side or segment.
The boundary condition is prescribed at a number of points of the side or
segment, these points are characterized by their distance from the begin
point of the side or segment.
[len] is the distance from the first point of the side or segment to the point along
the side or segment for which the incident wave spectrum is prescribed.
Note: these points do no have to coincide with grid points of the computational
grid. [len] is the distance in m or degrees in the case of spherical
coordinates, not in grid steps. The values of [len] should be given
in ascending order. The length along a SIDE is measured in clockwise or
counterclockwise direction, depending on the options CCW or CLOCKWISE (see
above). The option CCW is default. In case of a SEGMENT the length is
measured from the indicated begin point of the segment.
SPECSWAN the wave spectra are given in a file and are obtained from a SWAN run. The
structure of this file is described in Appendix D of the SWAN User Manual.
This file must contain more than 1 stationary wave spectrum, either 1D or 2D.
The coordinates of the locations will be taken into account and SWASH will
interpolate the spectra to the given boundary side or segment. The coordinate
system of the SWAN run must be the same as the one used by the current
SWASH run. See also Section 2.6.
’fname’ name of the file containing the wave spectra.
52 Chapter 4
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
Note that by specifying regular or irregular waves at the boundary, the vertical hyperbolic
cosine velocity profile is assumed. Hence, no type of boundary condition should be spe-
cified, except BTYPE WEAKREFL if a weakly reflective boundary is assumed.
| X |
| |
SOURce < -> Y > [centre] [width] [depth] [delta] &
| |
| [k] |
| REGular [h] [per] [dir]

< &
| SPECTrum [h] [per] [dir] [dd] [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
SMOOthing [period] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
CANNOT BE USED IN CASE OF CURVILINEAR GRIDS.
This command SOURCE activates the generation of waves within the computational domain
using the spatially distributed mass source function. This command can not be combined
with the specification of boundary conditions at the boundaries (see BOUNDCOND).
The user specifies a so-called source area, i.e. a rectangular area within the computational
domain, and subsequently a wave signal that will be generated in the source area. The
computational domain itself is assumed to be rectangular as well. The user is advised to
combine this internal wave generation with sponge layers to absorb waves at boundaries
effectively (see command SPONGE).
The source area is a rectangle and is determined by means of its centroid (or the centre of
gravity) and its width. This rectangle is parallel either to the xc−axis or to the yc−axis
of the (rotated) rectilinear computational domain; see Figure 4.1. In the first case the
centroid is with respect to the xc−axis and the width is parallel to the yc−axis, and in the
second case it is the other way around. Alternatively, the centroid is with respect to one
side of the unstructured grid as specified by the boundary marker. Note that the length
of the source area extends along the whole rectangular domain.
The waves to be generated are either regular or irregular as defined by means of a wave
spectrum. Note that a typical still water depth is required (for the calculation of wave
energy velocity).
Note that only incident wave direction perpendicular to the boundary is allowed in case of
unstructured grids.
X source area is parallel to xc−axis of the rectilinear grid.
Y source area is parallel to yc−axis of the rectilinear grid.
This is default.
[k] indicates from which side of the unstructured grid [centre] is measured.
The value of [k] corresponds to the boundary marker as indicated in file(s)
produced by a grid generator (such as in the last column of the Triangle
boundary marker.
[centre] the centre of gravity of source area in meters.
[width] the width of source area in meters.
[depth] the still water depth at source area in meters.
[delta] shape parameter for the source function.
Default: [delta] = 0.5
REGULAR regular waves will be generated. See command BOUNDCOND for the
specification of their parameters.
SPECTRUM irregular waves will be generated. See command BOUNDCOND for the
specification of their parameters. See also command BOUND SHAPE
for spectral shape.
SMOOTHING with this option a ramp function is applied to start up the simulation smoothly.
[period] the smoothing period of which the unit is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
| North |
| |
54 Chapter 4
| West |
SPONgelayer < > [width] | < [k] [width] >
| South |
| |
| East |
This command can be used to specify the sponge layers around the computational domain.
Sponge layers are very effective in absorbing wave energy at open boundaries where waves
are supposed to leave the computational domain freely. So, they prevent reflections at
open boundaries. A sponge layer may have a width of 1 to 3 typical wave lengths.
Note that by including a sponge layer of [width] meters, the computational domain needs
to be extended with [width] meters as well (see command CGRID).
To specify the sponge layers, a distinction is made between structured and unstructured
meshes. The keywords NORTH, WEST, SOUTH and EAST are meant for the structured grid
only. The variable [k] is to be used for the unstructured mesh (see below) and can be
repeated as many sponge layers to be chosen.
NORTH sponge layer is placed at the north edge of the domain.
WEST sponge layer is placed at the west edge of the domain.
SOUTH sponge layer is placed at the south edge of the domain.
EAST sponge layer is placed at the east edge of the domain.
[k] indicates on which side of the unstructured grid the sponge layer is applied.
The value of [k] corresponds to the boundary marker as indicated in file(s)
produced by a grid generator (such as in the last column of the Triangle
boundary marker.
[width] the width of sponge layer in meters.
FLOAT [alpha] [theta]
CANNOT BE USED IN CASE OF UNSTRUCTURED GRIDS.
With this optional command the user can specify some parameters in case of floating
objects or pressurized flow. See commands INPGRID FLOAT and READINP FLOAT in order
to define floating objects. If these commands are not used, SWASH will not account for
effects of floating structures on the (pressurized) flow.
[alpha] compressibility factor for flow beneath fixed floating object.
This option is meant for academic purposes only.
Note: 0 ≤ [alpha] ≤ 1.
Default: [alpha] = 0.
[theta] parameter for the θ−method applied beneath floating object.
[theta] = 0.5 corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson scheme and
[theta] = 1 to the implicit Euler scheme.
Default: [theta] = 1.
4.5.4 Physics
| -> CONstant [cd] |

| |
| CHARNock [beta] [height] |
| |
| LINear [a1] [a2] [b] [wlow] [whigh] |
| | | REL [alpha]
WIND [vel] [dir] < WU > <
| | | RELW [crest]
| GARRatt |
| |
| SMIthbanke |
| |
| FIT |
With this optional command the user can specify wind speed, direction and wind drag.
Wind speed and direction are assumed constant. If this command is not used, SWASH
will not account for wind effect.
This command is usually meant for large-scale wind driven circulation, tides and storm
surges. Inclusion of wind effects may also be beneficial to buoyancy driven flows in coastal
seas, estuaries and lakes. However, this option may also be useful for applications concern-
ing wind effects on wave transformation in coastal waters, ports and harbours.
In SWASH seven different wind drag formulation are available, i.e., constant, linear on
wind speed, Charnock, Wu, Garratt, Smith and Banke and the second order polynomial
56 Chapter 4
fit. The Charnock drag formulation is based on an implicit relationship between the wind
and the roughness, while the other formulations, those of Wu, Garratt and Smith and
Banke, express a linear relationship between the drag and the wind speed.
Recent observations indicate that these linear parameterizations overestimate the drag
coefficient at high wind speeds (U10 > 20 m/s, say). Based on many authoritative studies
it appears that the drag coefficient increases almost linearly with wind speed up to approx-
imately 20 m/s, then levels off and decreases again at about 35 m/s to rather low values
at 60 m/s wind speed. We fitted a 2nd order polynomial to the data obtained from these
studies, and this fit is given by
Cd = (0.55 + 2.97Ũ − 1.49Ũ 2 ) × 10−3
where Ũ = U10 /Uref , and the reference wind speed Uref = 31.5 m/s is the speed at which
the drag attains its maximum value in this expression. These drag values are lower than
in the expression of Wu (1982) by 10% − 30% for high wind speeds (15 ≤ U10 ≤ 30 m/s)
and over 30% for hurricane wind speeds (U10 > 30 m/s).
Usually, the wind stress depends on the drag and the wind speed at a height of 10 m,
U10 . However, it might be obvious that the influence of wind stress will reduce if the
water is flowing in the same direction and it will decrease when the water flow and wind
are in opposite directions. This may lead to a smaller wind setup on very shallow areas.
Hence, the wind stress may be dependent on the wind velocity relative to the water,
i.e. U10 − u, instead of the wind velocity as such. Here, u is either the depth-averaged
flow velocity in the depth-averaged mode or the surface flow velocity in the multi-layered
mode. Experiments have shown that the eigenfrequencies damp out much faster when this
alternative is employed.
The considered wind is at 10 m above the surface. However, it might be better to consider
the wind at the surface in order to relate this wind to the flow velocity. A factor α
(0 < α ≤ 1) is introduced that take into account the difference between the wind velocity
at 10 m height and the wind velocity at the surface, Us = α U10 . With the use of α in this
formulation the influence of the flow velocity becomes even stronger. However, the exact
value of α is yet unknown; further research on this parameter is needed. Therefore, this
parameter is optionally and should be used with care.
Wave growth due to wind in shallow areas is included in the model. It is based on a
parameterization of the momentum flux transferred from wind to surface waves similar to
the well-known sheltering mechanism of Jeffreys (1925) as described in Chen et al. (J.
Waterwy, Port, Coastal, Ocean Engng., 130, 312-321, 2004). The wind stress is expressed
by
τw = ρair Cd |U10 − c| (U10 − c)
where ρair is the air density and c is the wave celerity. Hence, the wind velocity is taken
relative to the wave celerity. The wind stress may vary over a wave length with a larger
wind drag on the wave crest than that in the trough (Chen et al., 2004). This effect is
implemented in the model by applying the wind stress on the wave crest only.
The default option is a constant wind drag coefficient, while the wind stress is related to
the wind velocity at 10 m height only.
[vel] wind velocity at 10 m height (in m/s).
[dir] wind direction at 10 m height (in degrees; Cartesian or Nautical
convention, see command SET).
CONSTANT this option indicates that a constant drag coefficient will be adopted.
[cd] dimensionless coefficient.
Default: [cd] = 0.002
CHARNOCK indicates that the Charnock drag formulation will be adopted.
[beta] dimensionless Charnock coefficient.
Default: [beta] = 0.032
[height] height (in m) above the free surface where the wind speed has been measured.
Default: [height] = 10.
LINEAR indicates that the wind drag depends linearly on wind speed.
For this, both lower and upper bounds of the wind speed, [wlow], [whigh],
and two coefficients, [a1], [b], need to be specified as follows:
cd = 0.001 ( [a1] + [b] U10 ), with cd the drag coefficient and U10 the wind
speed in between [wlow] and [whigh].
[a1] coefficient in the above linear function.
[a2] not used.
[b] coefficient in the above linear function.
[wlow] lower bound of wind speed.
[whigh] upper bound of wind speed.
WU indicates that the drag formulation of Wu will be adopted.
GARRATT indicates that the drag formulation of Garratt will be adopted.
SMITHBANKE indicates that the drag formulation of Smith and Banke will be adopted.
FIT drag coefficient is based on the 2nd order polynomial fit.
RELATIVE indicates that the wind stress depends on the wind velocity relative to the water.
[alpha] parameter to relate the wind velocity at 10 m height to wind velocity at surface.
Note: 0 < [alpha] ≤ 1.
Default: [alpha] = 1.
RELWAVE indicates that the wind stress depends on the wind velocity relative to the
wave celerity. This option enables to include wind effects on the nearshore
wave transformation.
[crest] free parameter representing a ratio of the forced crest height to maximum
surface elevation. Use of this parameter implies that the wind stress is only
applied on wave crests of which the surface elevation is larger than the given
fraction [crest] of the maximum elevation with respect to the datum level.
Note: 0 ≤ [crest] ≤ 1.
Default: [crest] = 0.4
58 Chapter 4
The quantities [vel] and [dir] are required if this command is used except when the
command READINP WIND is specified.
| CONstant [cf]
|
| CHEZy [cf]
|
| -> MANNing [cf]
FRICtion <
| COLEbrook [h]
|
| | -> SMOOTH
| LOGlaw <
| ROUGHness [h]
With this optional command the user can activate bottom friction. If this command is not
used, SWASH will not account for bottom friction.
For typically depth-averaged calculations, four different bottom friction values are avail-
able, i.e., constant, Chezy, Manning and Colebrook-White values. Note that the Colebrook-
White friction value equals the Nikuradse roughness height. Although they are associated
with depth-averaged flow velocities, they may be applied in the multi-layered mode as well.
However, some inaccuracies may occur in the vertical structure of the velocity, in particular
when the depth-averaged velocity is zero. Alternatively, the logarithmic wall law may be
applied. In this case, a distinction is made between smooth and rough beds. For rough
beds, the user must apply a Nikuradse roughness height.
The aforementioned friction formulations are usually derived for quasi-steady flow con-
dition (e.g. flow in a river). However, numerical experiments have indicated that the
Manning formula provides a good representation of wave dynamics in the surf zone, and
even better to that returned by other friction formulations.
The default option is: MANNING with a constant friction coefficient.
CONSTANT this option indicates that a dimensionless friction coefficient will be adopted.
[cf] dimensionless coefficient.
Default: [cf] = 0.002
Note that [cf] is allowed to vary over the computational region; in that
case use the commands INPGRID FRICTION and READINP FRICTION to
define and read the friction data. The command FRICTION is still required
to define the type of friction expression. The value of [cf] in this command
is then not required (it will be ignored).
CHEZY indicates that the Chezy formula will be activated.
[cf] Chezy coefficient (in m1/2 /s).
Default: [cf] = 65.
MANNING indicates that the Manning formula will be activated.
[cf] Manning coefficient (in m−1/3 s).
Default: [cf] = 0.019
COLEBROOK indicates that the Colebrook-White formula will be activated.
[h] Nikuradse roughness height (in m).
Note that [h] is allowed to vary over the computational region; in that case
use the commands INPGRID FRICTION and READINP FRICTION to define
and read the roughness heights. The command FRICTION is still required to
define the type of friction expression. The value of [h] in this command is
then not required (it will be ignored).
LOGLAW indicates that the logarithmic wall law will be activated.
SMOOTH indicates that the bottom is smooth, i.e. the roughness height is zero.
This option can be used in the depth-averaged mode (a logarithmic velocity
profile is then assumed). Note that this option must be combined with the
standard k − ε model in the multi-layered mode (see command VISC).
ROUGHNESS indicates that the bottom is rough and is determined by the roughness height.
This option can be used in the depth-averaged mode (a logarithmic velocity
profile is then assumed). Note that this option must be combined with the
standard k − ε model in the multi-layered mode (see command VISC).
[h] Nikuradse roughness height (in m).
Note that [h] is allowed to vary over the computational region; in that case
use the commands INPGRID FRICTION and READINP FRICTION to define
and read the roughness heights. The command FRICTION is still required to
define the type of friction expression. The value of [h] in this command is
60 Chapter 4
then not required (it will be ignored).
| -> CONstant [visc]

|
| -> Horizontal < SMAGorinsky [cs]
| |
| | MIXing [lm]
|
|
VISCosity < Vertical KEPS [cfk] [cfe]
|
|
| | -> LINear
| FULL KEPS <
| | NONLinear
With this optional command the user can activate turbulent mixing. If this command is
not used, SWASH will not account for turbulent mixing.
The turbulence structure of the flow in shallow water is characterized by the coexist-
ence of three-dimensional turbulence, having length scales less than the water depth, and
horizontal two-dimensional eddies with much larger length scales. Such a non-isotropic
character of shallow water turbulence may produce a large difference between horizontal
and vertical eddy viscosity coefficients.
Three-dimensional turbulence is mainly generated by vertical velocity gradients (including

bottom and wind stresses) whose length scale is smaller than the water depth. Therefore,
a turbulence model is necessary to properly evaluate the vertical momentum exchange in
flows. This is represented by the vertical eddy viscosity coefficient in the momentum equa-
tions.
In estuaries and coastal seas the large-scale flow patterns are usually determined by tidal
forcing, the baroclinic pressure gradient, wind and bottom friction, whereas the horizontal
turbulent stresses have little impact. Hence, for far field calculations the use of an hori-
zontal eddy viscosity model has a negligible role. On the other hand, for near field flows,
horizontal large-scale eddies generated by lateral shear may have a significant role in hori-
zontal mixing. Examples are mixing layers developing at harbour entrances, along groyne
fields and floodplains, separation flows, wakes and jets, and flows near discharges. The ho-
rizontal exchange of turbulent momentum need to be modelled properly, since a constant
value for the horizontal eddy viscosity is too crude as an assumption for such near field
predictions.
In SWASH both the horizontal and vertical eddy viscosities can be specified, either separ-
ately or combined. In such cases, the pressure is assumed to be hydrostatic. In addition,
the Boussinesq hypothesis is applied that basically assumes the isotropy of turbulence.
Three different horizontal eddy viscosity models are available, i.e., a constant viscosity,
the Smagorinsky model and the Prandtl mixing length hypothesis. Vertical mixing can be
modelled by using the standard k − ε model, with k the turbulent kinetic energy per unit
mass and ε the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy per unit mass (Launder and
Spalding, 1974).
Within the vegetation canopy, it is assumed that all energy of the mean flow is converted to
turbulent energy due to the plant drag (see command VEGETATION). This process is mod-
elled by means of the vegetation-induced turbulence production terms in the k − ε model.
They are accompanied with two empirical constants [cfk] and [cfe] associated with k
and ε, respectively. We have selected the values as suggested by Shimizu and Tsujimoto
(1994), i.e. [cfk] = 0.07 and [cfe] = 0.16 (see also Defina and Bixio, 2005).
SWASH offers the user the possibility to simulate a full three-dimensional turbulent flow
where both non-hydrostatic pressure and anisotropic state of turbulent stresses becomes
important. Additionally, the length scales in all directions can be in the same order.
Examples are curved open channel flows with heterogeneous roughness conditions and
compound channel flows with different floodplains. Their flow characteristics are repres-
ented by, amongst others, secondary currents (of Prandtl’s second kind) generated due to
anisotropy of turbulence.
For such cases a three-dimensional turbulence model should be activated, where the Reyn-
olds stresses in all directions are equally important. These turbulent stresses are supposed
to be linearly related to the deformation rates of the mean flow. This Boussinesq hypothesis
introduces the concept of eddy viscosity that can be computed by means of a two-equation
model. The standard k −ε model of Launder and Spalding (1974) is employed, whereas the
eddy viscosity is applied to all directions. The Boussinesq hypothesis can be considered as
the leading term in a series expansion of products of strain and rotation tensors implying
isotropy of turbulence. This works quite well for many flows where the primary shear stress
is the dominant one. This is, however, not the case when secondary shear stresses and nor-
mal stresses become relevant. Hence, the Boussinesq hypothesis may not be suitable for
turbulent flows involving strong three-dimensional effects. This weakness can potentially
be removed by expanding the stress-strain relationship to include the quadratic terms of
the mean velocity gradient tensor. These terms approximate the deviations from the iso-
tropic state of the turbulent normal stresses. To this end, the nonlinear k − ε model of
Speziale (1987) is applied.
62 Chapter 4
The default option is a constant horizontal eddy viscosity.
HORIZONTAL indicates that the horizontal mixing will be activated.

CONSTANT this option indicates that a constant horizontal eddy viscosity will
be adopted.
[visc] constant viscosity value (in m2 /s).
SMAGORIN indicates that the Smagorinsky model will be employed.
[cs] Smagorinsky constant.
Default: [cs] = 0.2
MIXING indicates that the Prandtl mixing length hypothesis will be used.
[lm] mixing length (in meters).
VERTICAL indicates that the vertical mixing will be activated.
KEPS indicates that the standard k − ε model will be used.
[cfk] vegetative drag-related constant for turbulent kinetic energy.
Default: [cfk] = 0.07
Note that this constant is only relevant when vegetation is
included (see command VEGETATION).
[cfe] vegetative drag-related constant for dissipation rate.
Default: [cfe] = 0.16
Note that this constant is only relevant when vegetation is
included (see command VEGETATION).
FULL indicates that the full three-dimensional turbulence modelling
will be activated.
Note that this option is in lieu of the above mixing options.
KEPS indicates that the standard k − ε model will be used.
LINEAR indicates that the linear stress-strain relation will be employed.
This amounts to the application of the Boussinesq hypothesis
and is the default.
NONLINEAR indicates that the nonlinear stress-strain relationship of
Speziale (1987) will be used.
POROsity [size] [height] [alpha0] [beta0] [wper]
This command indicates the use of porosity layers inside the computational domain to
simulate full/partial reflection and transmission through porous structures such as break-
waters, quays and jetties. Also the interaction between waves and porous coastal structures
can be simulated in this way. The mean flow through porous medium is described by the
volume-averaged Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (VARANS) equations. The laminar and
turbulent frictional forces in porous medium is modelled by means of the empirical for-
mula’s of Van Gent (1995). In the case of an oscillatory wave motion the turbulent loss
will enhance, which depends on the Keulegan-Carpenter number.
See commands INPGRID POROSITY and READINP POROSITY in order to define porosity lay-
ers. If neither of this command nor the command READINP POROSITY is used, SWASH will
not account for wave interactions with porous structures.
[size] characteristic grain size of porous structure(s) (in m).

Note that [size] is allowed to vary over the computational region; in that
case use the commands INPGRID PSIZE and READINP PSIZE to define and
read the grain sizes of different porous structures. The value of [size] in
this command is then not required (it will be ignored).
[height] structure height (relative to the bottom in meters). Both submerged and
emerged porous structures can be defined in this way. An emerged structure
is the default.
Default: [height] = 99999.
Note that [height] is allowed to vary over the computational region; in that
case use the commands INPGRID HSTRUC and READINP HSTRUC to define and
read the structure heights of different structures. The value of [height] in
this command is then not required (it will be ignored).
[alpha0] dimensionless constant for laminar friction loss (surface friction).
Default: [alpha0] = 200.
[beta0] dimensionless constant for turbulent friction loss (form drag).
Default: [beta0] = 1.1
[wper] characteristic wave period (either mean of peak period in s).
In case of wave interaction with porous structures this parameter is required.
VEGEtation < [height] [diamtr] [nstems] [drag] > INERtia [cm] POROsity Vertical
With this optional command the user can activate wave damping induced by aquatic
vegetation. If this command is not used, SWASH will not account for vegetation effects.
The vegetation (rigid plants) can be divided over a number of vertical segments and so, the
possibility to vary the vegetation vertically is included. Each vertical segment represents
some characteristics of the plants. These variables as indicated below can be repeated as
many vertical segments to be chosen.
The vegetation effect is due to the drag force on a fixed body in an oscillatory flow which
64 Chapter 4
can be determined using the well-known Morison equation. In this case only vertical
cylinders are considered and the direction of the drag force is horizontal. Apart from the
drag force, the inertia force can be optionally included, which is specified by means of the
added mass coefficient. Note that this coefficient is one less than the inertia coefficient
(=Froude-Krylov force + added mass) and is uniform over the plant.
For the case of densely spaced cylinders, like dense mangrove fields and porous brushwood
groins, the effect of porosity can be optionally included. This porosity depends on the
spatial occupation of vegetation per unit volume.
In case horizontal cylinders are included (e.g. box filled with branches or mangrove with
both horizontal and vertical roots), the drag forces in both the horizontal and vertical
directions must be modelled.
[height] the plant height per vertical segment (in m).
[diamtr] the diameter of each plant stand per vertical segment (in m).
[nstems] the number of plant stands per square meter for each segment.
Note that [nstems] is allowed to vary over the computational region to
account for the zonation of vegetation. In that case use the commands
INPGRID NPLANTS and READINP NPLANTS to define and read the vegetation
density. The (vertically varying) value of [nstems] in this command will
be multiplied with this horizontally varying plant density.
Default: [nstems] = 1
[drag] the drag coefficient per vertical segment.
INERTIA indicates that the inertia force will be included.
[cm] the added mass coefficient.
POROSITY indicates that the porosity effect will be included.
VERTICAL indicates that the drag force in vertical direction will be included.
| -> Sec | | -> NONCohesive [size] |

TRANSPort [diff] [retur] < MIn > < > &
| HR | | COHesive [tauce] [taucd] [erate] |
| DAy |
| -> Yes |
[fall] [snum] [ak] DENSity < >
| No |
ANTICreep None | STAndard | SVK

With this optional command the user can specify some relevant parameters in case of
transport of constituent. These parameters are only relevant when transport of salinity,
temperature, or suspended sediment load is included.
Inclusion of transport of constituent is indicated by the commands INPTRANS SALINITY

and READTRANS SALINITY in case of salinity, or the commands INPTRANS TEMPERATURE and
READTRANS TEMPERATURE in case of temperature, or the commands INPTRANS SEDIMENT
and READTRANS SEDIMENT in case of suspended sediment load. Using these commands,
both the initial and stationary boundary conditions for constituent are thus specified. If
none of these commands is used, SWASH will not account for transport of any of these
constituents.
The first parameter that may be specified in this command is the horizontal eddy diffusivity.
A uniform eddy diffusivity value may be chosen that can be used as a calibration parameter
to account for all forms of unresolved horizontal mixing. This parameter may be chosen
independently from the eddy viscosity (see command VISCOSITY HOR). The eddy diffusivity
depends on the flow and the grid size used in the simulation. A typical small-scale model
with grid sizes of tens of meters or less, the eddy diffusivity typically ranges from 1 to
10 m2 /s. For a large-scale (tidal) areas with grid sizes of at least hundreds of meters, the
parameter is typically in the range of 10 to 100 m2 /s. Alternatively, when not specified, the
eddy diffusivity is related to the eddy viscosity that is determined by either the Smagorinsky
model or the Prandtl mixing length model. Otherwise it is zero.
Note that in 3D simulations the vertical eddy diffusivity is automatically included and is
related to the vertical mixing (see command VISCOSITY VERT).
The second parameter in this command is the return time for unsteady salt intrusion in
a tidal flow. A boundary condition at the seaward side is required. This is usually the
ambient or background concentration of salt sea water. However, at the transition between
sea and river, alternating conditions hold regarding inflow of salt sea water during flood tide
and outflow of fresh river water during ebb tide. Immediately after low water, the salinity
of the inflowing water will not be equal to the salinity of the sea water. It will take some
time before this happens at the boundary. This time lag is the return time for salinity
from its value at the outflow depending on conditions in the interior of model domain
relative to its background value specified at the inflow, see Figure 4.2. This memory effect
is characterised by the so-called Thatcher-Harleman condition that specifies an appropriate
time lag. The return time depends on the tidal flow conditions outside the estuary.
Either noncohesive suspended sediment (sand) or cohesive suspended sediment (mud or

clay) transport can be considered. We assume a single sediment class. Bed load is not
taken into account. In case of noncohesive suspended load transport, median sediment
diameter can be specified. In this respect, a pickup function is employed to model the
upward sediment flux in which the amount of noncohesive sediment (sand) is eroded from
66 Chapter 4
concentration at opening
outflow inflow outflow
background concentration
return time
time (s)
Figure 4.2: Return time for unsteady salt intrusion.
the bed surface into the flow. The following pickup function is used (Van Rijn, 1984):
!3/2
νt ∂c θ − θcr (s − 1)0.6 g 0.6 d0.8
50
− = 0.00033 0.2
, θ > θcr
σc ∂z θcr ν
with c the (volumetric) sediment concentration, νt the vertical eddy viscosity (see command
VISCOSITY VERT), σc the Schmidt number for sediment, θ the Shields parameter related
to the bed shear stress, θcr = 0.05 the critical Shields parameter, s = 2.65 the sediment
specific gravity (see command SET [rhosed]), d50 the median sediment diameter, and ν
the kinematic viscosity of water. Sediment deposition is determined by the downward flux
related to the settling velocity ws . If this fall velocity is not specified by the user, then the
fall velocity will be calculated by SWASH depending on the particle size (Rubey, 1933):
v v 
u2 36ν 2 36ν 2
q u u
u
ws = (s − 1)gd50 t +
 − t 
3 (s − 1)gd350 (s − 1)gd350
Note that if the sediment diameter is not specified by the user, then no mass exchange
between the bed and the flow will be taken into account.
For cohesive sediment the mass exchange of suspended load between the bed and the flow
are calculated with the well-known Partheniades-Krone formulations, which include the
erosion and deposition fluxes:
νt ∂c
− = Se − Sd
σc ∂z
The sediment flux for erosion is given by
τb

Se = E −1 , if τb > τce
τce
where E is the entrainment rate for erosion flux, τce is the critical bed shear stress for
erosion and τb is the actual bed shear stress. The sediment flux for deposition is given by
τb

Sd = c b w s 1− , if τb < τcd
τcd
where cb is the (volumetric) sediment concentration near the bed and τcd is the critical bed
shear stress for sedimentation. Here, the critical bed shear stresses for erosion, τce , and
sedimentation, τcd , the sediment erosion rate E and the fall velocity ws must be specified
by the user.
It is assumed that the interaction between sediment and turbulent flow is mainly governed
by sediment-induced buoyancy effects. In this respect, the standard k − ε model and the
logarithmic wall law near the bed surface must be applied. This wall law is used to cal-
culate the bed shear stress τb , which in turn serves as one of the parameters for the mass
exchange between the bed and the flow. For sand transport the roughness height may
depend on the sediment diameter (if the user wants so) and is determined as 5.5 d50 .
Because of the assumption of the upward sediment flux being equal to the pickup rate,
the Schmidt number σc for sediment becomes a free parameter. Experiences have shown
that sediment diffusivity is rather sensitive to this parameter. The sediment diffusivity is
usually larger than the eddy viscosity, and so σc < 1.
The turbidity flow is usually considered as a mixture of water and sediment with a mix-
ture density, i.e. the effect of sediment on the density of (salt) water is included. However,
in some cases it may be desirable not to include this effect. In this case the density of
water remains unchanged, while the sediment transport is only influenced by the flow and
(turbulent) dispersion. Also, there is no sedimentation and erosion near the bed. Hence,
sediment can be considered here as a passive tracer.
SWASH makes use of the terrain-following coordinates of which the advantages are a better
representation of bottom topography and a better resolution in shallow areas. A disad-
vantage is the transformation of the transport equation due to the geometrical properties
of the curved z-planes, so that the curvature terms are involved, which may complicate the
computation. However, when these curvature terms are neglected, this may lead to a false
generation of vertical mixing. This effect, known as the artificial creeping, becomes evident
when the bottom slope is relatively large in regions of strong stable stratification. Hence,
in such as case, inclusion of the curvature terms, known as the anti-creepage terms, may
reduce significantly the artificial creeping. The standard method is based on the actual
transformation. An alternative is the method of Stelling and Van Kester (1994), which
computes the horizontal diffusion along strictly horizontal planes.
[diff] constant horizontal eddy diffusivity (in m2 /s).

[retur] return time, the unit is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
68 Chapter 4
MIN unit minutes

HR unit hours
DAY unit days
NONCOHES indicates that noncohesive suspended load transport (sand) will be
activated.
This is the default.
[size] median sediment diameter (in µm).
Note that if [size] is not specified, no sedimentation and erosion will
be taken place at the bed.
COHESIVE indicates that cohesive suspended load transport (mud) will be activated.
[tauce] critical bed shear stress for erosion (in N/m2 ).
[taucd] critical bed shear stress for deposition (in N/m2 ).
[erate] entrainment rate for erosion (in kg/m2 /s).
[fall] fall velocity (in mm/s).
In case of cohesive sediment transport this parameter is required.
For sand transport, [fall] may not be given by the user, which
it will then be calculated based on the sediment diameter.
[snum] Schmidt number for sediment.
Default: [snum] = 0.7
[ak] empirical constant to reduce the Von Karman constant and thereby
the bed shear stress in sediment-laden bottom boundary layer.
Adams and Weatherly (1981) suggest [ak] = 5.5.
DENSITY this option indicates whether to include the density effect of
suspended sediment in the fluid mixture or not.
YES indicates that the mixture density will be computed.
NO indicates that the density of water will not be changed by the
presence of sediment in the water column.
ANTICREEP this option indicates whether to include the anti-creepage terms or not.
NONE indicates that the anti-creepage terms will not be included.
STANDARD indicates that the anti-creepage terms as derived from the local
transformation will be employed.
SVK indicates that the Stelling and Van Kester method will be adopted.
BREaking [alpha] [beta]
With this optional command the user can control wave breaking in the case of relatively
coarse resolution in the vertical. If this command is not used, SWASH will not account for
this control. Note that SWASH will account for energy dissipation due to wave breaking
anyhow!
By considering the similarity between breaking waves and bores or moving hydraulic jumps,
energy dissipation due to wave breaking is inherently accounted for. However, when a
few vertical layers are to be employed, the amount of this energy dissipation may be
underestimated due to the inaccuracy with which the phase velocity at the front face of
the breaking wave is approximated. To initiate the wave breaking process correctly, steep
bore-like wave fronts need to be tracked and this can be controlled by the vertical speed
of the free surface. When this exceeds a fraction of the shallow water celerity, as follows,
∂ζ q
> α gh
∂t
the non-hydrostatic pressure in corresponding grid points is then neglected and remains
so at the front face of the breaker. The parameter α > 0 represents the maximum local
surface steepness and determines the onset of the breaking process. A threshold value of
α = 0.6 is advised. (This corresponds to a local front slope of 25o .) This single value is
not subject to calibration and seems to work well for all the test cases we have considered,
both regular and irregular waves.
√
To represent persistence of wave breaking (even if ∂t ζ < α gh), we also label a grid point
for hydrostatic computation if a neighbouring grid point has been labelled for hydrostatic
computation and the local steepness is still high enough, i.e.,
∂ζ q
> β gh
∂t
with β < α. In all other grid points, the computations are non-hydrostatic.
This approach combined with a proper momentum conservation leads to a correct amount
of energy dissipation on the front face of the breaking wave. Moreover, nonlinear wave
properties such as asymmetry and skewness are preserved as well.
Note that by taking a sufficient number of vertical layers (10 or so) the phase velocity at
the breaking front will be computed accurately enough and hence, this option should not
be activated.
[alpha] threshold parameter at which to initiate wave breaking.
Note: [alpha] > 0.
Default: [alpha] = 0.6
[beta] threshold parameter at which to stop wave breaking.
Note: 0 < [beta] < [alpha].
Default: [beta] = 0.3
4.5.5 Numerics
70 Chapter 4
NONHYDrostatic / STAndard \ [theta] &

\ -> BOX /
SUBGrid [pmax] REDuced [qlay] &
SOLVer [rhsaccur] [initaccur] [maxiter] [relax] &
PREConditioner ILUD|ILU &
PROJection ITERative [tol] [maxiter]
With this optional command the user can include the non-hydrostatic pressure in the
shallow water equations. If this command is not used, SWASH will not account for non-
hydrostatic pressure, i.e. pressure is assumed to be hydrostatic.
Hydrostatic pressure assumption can be made in case of propagation of long waves, such
as large-scale ocean circulations, tides and storm surges. This assumption does not hold
in case of propagation of short waves, flows over a steep bottom, unstable stratified flows,
and other small-scale applications where vertical acceleration is dominant.
In SWASH two different schemes for the vertical pressure gradient are available, i.e., the
classical central differencing (option STANDARD) and the Keller-box scheme (option BOX).
The former approximation is particularly meant for applications where vertical structures
are important, e.g. stratified flows with density currents, undertow and flows over steep
and rapidly varying bottoms, while the latter will be mainly used for accurate short wave
propagation with two or three layers employed. In addition, when applying the Keller-box
scheme, it is advised to choose an equidistant layer distribution (variable thicknesses only)
in order to get the optimal linear frequency dispersion accuracy (i.e. the relative error of
the phase speed predicted by the model compared to that from the linear dispersion theory
is minimal).
The time integration of the vertical pressure gradient is the so-called θ−scheme (a mix of
explicit and implicit Euler schemes). With [theta] = 0.5 we have the well-known second
order accurate Crank-Nicolson scheme with the smallest truncation error, while [theta]
= 1 indicates the first order implicit Euler scheme. Note that only values of [theta] in
the range [0.5,1] are allowed for stability reasons.
The number of vertical layers is chosen sufficiently large to resolve the vertical structure of
the flow field (see command VERTICAL). However, this grid resolution in the vertical is also
employed in the discretization of the non-hydrostatic pressure field, whereas a few number
of layers usually suffices to compute wave dispersion without deteriorating accuracy. With
a subgrid approach the user has an option to resolve the flow and pressure field with a
different resolution in the vertical. The vertical is equidistantly divided into a few number
of layers for the non-hydrostatic pressure and a relative large number of (non-equidistant)
layers for the horizontal velocities and turbulent stresses. In this way, the solution for the
non-hydrostatic pressure and vertical acceleration can be obtained on a relatively coarse
vertical grid, while on a subgrid with a high vertical resolution the vertical structure of
turbulent flow is resolved. Note this subgrid approach cannot be applied in the case of
pressurized flow.
Since most of the computational effort is devoted to inverting the Poisson pressure matrix,
an effective way to minimize this effort is by reducing the rank of the Poisson matrix. This
leads to less computational cost and memory. With the keyword REDUCED the dimension
of the Poisson equation, i.e. the number of pressure unknowns per water column, can be
diminished. Note this option must be combined with the BOX scheme. In spite of this
reduction it can still provide an accurate description of dispersive waves. For instance,
a model with two layers but one reduced pressure layer, the so-called reduced two-layer
model, has more or less the same linear dispersion accuracy as the full two-layer model but
saves about 30% CPU time. Note this option cannot be applied in the case of pressurized
flow. The stencil of the pressure equation can be reduced by assuming a constant pressure
in the vertical near the bottom. This is determined by the parameter [qlay] which indic-
ates the number of layers, started from the bottom, where the pressure is constant. In this
way, it is possible to eliminate the pressure in these layers from the set of equations. As an
example, we have a model with five pressure layers ([pmax] = 5) and we assume that the
pressure is constant in the two lowest layers ([qlay] = 2). So there are effectively three
(upper) layers in which the pressure need to be computed. An important remark needs
to be made. Although this reduced pressure equation method is more efficient in terms
of CPU time, it is less so concerning the dispersion accuracy. To optimize this accuracy
often a different than equidistant layer distribution needs to be sought. For instance, the
optimal linear dispersion relation of the reduced two-layer model ([kmax] = [pmax] = 2,
[qlay] = 1) is obtained by setting the following layer distribution: the top layer has a
relative thickness of 84% whereas the thickness of the bottom layer is 16% of the total
depth.
By inclusion of the non-hydrostatic pressure, a solution of the Poisson pressure equation

is required. In SWASH this equation is solved by an iterative solution method and the
user may controls this by means of the keyword SOLVER. Two linear solvers are adopted:
Strongly Implicit Procedure (SIP) and BiCGSTAB preconditioned with an incomplete LU
factorization. The former one is particularly meant for the depth-averaged case, while the
latter one is to be applied for the multi-layered case. The incomplete LU factorization
is either ILU or ILUD. The latter is restricted to the main diagonal of the matrix, i.e.
the off-diagonals remain unchanged. The choice of the preconditioner is indicated with
the keyword PRECONDITIONER. For parallel computing, the ILUD preconditioner is a good
choice. However, the ILU preconditioner is more robust. For instance, when high waves
or very short waves are involved, or when the bottom topography exhibits steep slopes,
or when a considerable number of layers (> 20) is involved, it may be wise to choose the
72 Chapter 4
ILU preconditioner. Note this ILU preconditioner will be chosen automatically in the case
of pressurized flow. The weighting parameter α, as indicated by [relax], may improve
the rate of convergence. With this parameter a combination of the classical ILU and the
modified ILU (MILU) can be given. This combination is given by (1-α)ILU + αMILU,
and is also hold for ILUD and its modified variant (MILUD). Based on several numerical
experiments, an optimum in the convergence rate is found by taking 55% of MILU and
45% of ILU in case of the Keller-box scheme, and 99% of MILUD and 1% ILUD for the
same scheme, while for the standard discretization of the vertical pressure gradient, a com-
bination of 90% of MILU(D) and 10% of ILU(D) is chosen.
It is common to use the reduction of the residual as a stopping criterion, because the BiCG-
STAB method requires calculation of the residual. When solving the system Ax = b, after
m iterations we have an approximate solution xm and the residual rm = b − Axm is related
to the convergence error em = x − xm by Aem = rm , so the reduction of the residual results
in the reduction of the convergence error. This does not necessarily mean that the relative
error of the solver is identical to the decrease of the residual. The iteration process stops at
each time step if the ratio of the 2-norm of the residual and of the right-hand side or initial
residual is less than a given accuracy: krm k2 /kbk2 < ǫ and krm k2 /kr0 k2 < ǫ, respectively.
They are indicated by the parameters [rhsaccur] and [initaccur], respectively. If both
these accuracies are given, the sum of the two is used as termination criterion. Often, the
stopping criterion for the iterative methods is basically a compromise between efficiency
and accuracy. Decreasing the required accuracy can save a considerable amount of CPU
time. Numerical experiments showed ǫ = 0.01 gives the optimum.
The Poisson pressure equation is obtained by means of the pressure correction method of
Van Kan (1986). This method is second order accurate in time and thus appropriate for
the simulation of wave transformation, or in general, free surface flows. To deal with the
pressurized flow underneath a floating object, the user is advised to choose the first order
pressure projection method of Chorin (1968). However, to retain the second order accuracy
and to avoid wave damping when simulating free surface flows, the accuracy of the pressure
projection method can be improved. This is accompanied by an iteration process to solve
the global continuity equation containing the contribution of the non-hydrostatic pressure.
This equation is then consistent with the divergence-free velocity field obtained after the
pressure projection step (Vitousek and Fringer, 2013).
The default option is the Keller-box scheme with [theta] = 1.0, while the Poisson
pressure equation obtained with the second order pressure correction technique is solved
with either SIP with [rhsaccur]=0.01, in the case of depth-averaged mode, or ILUD-
BiCGSTAB with [rhsaccur]=0.01 and [initaccur]=0, in the case of multi-layered mode.
STANDARD this option indicates that the classical central differencing for the
vertical pressure gradient will be employed.
BOX this option indicates that the Keller-box scheme will be adopted.
[theta] parameter for the θ−method. [theta] = 0.5 corresponds to the

Crank-Nicolson scheme and [theta] = 1 to the implicit Euler
scheme.
Default: [theta] = 1.0
SUBGRID this option indicates that the subgrid approach will be adopted.
Note: this option cannot be applied in the case of pressurized flow.
[pmax] number of vertical pressure layers and 1 ≤ [pmax] ≤ kmax.
Default: [pmax] = kmax
REDUCED this option indicates that the reduced pressure equation method will
be adopted.
Note: this option cannot be applied in the case of pressurized flow.
[qlay] number of layers, started from the bottom layer, for which pressure is
constant in the vertical to reduce the pressure equation.
Default: [qlay] = 1
SOLVER With this option the user can influence some of the numerical parameters
of iterative solvers.
[rhsaccur] relative accuracy with respect to the right-hand side.
Default: [rhsaccur] = 0.01
[initaccur] Relative accuracy with respect to the initial residual.
Default: [initaccur] = 0.0
[maxiter] maximum number of iterations.
Default: [maxiter] = 500
[relax] parameter for a linear solver:
• relaxation parameter for the ILU(D) preconditioning. [relax] = 0
corresponds to ILU(D) and [relax] = 1 corresponds to MILU(D).
Default: model dependent (see above).
• under relaxation parameter for the SIP solver.
Default: [relax] = 0.91
PRECONDI With this option the user can choose a preconditioner.
ILUD indicates the ILUD preconditioner.
ILU indicates the ILU preconditioner.
PROJECTION With this option the user can choose the first order pressure projection
method instead of the default second order pressure correction method.
ITERATIVE With this option the accuracy of the pressure projection method is
improved through an iteration process.
[tol] error tolerance to terminate the iteration process.
Default: [tol] = 0.0001
74 Chapter 4
| | UMOM MOMentum|HEAD / -> Horizontal |

| | \ Vertical |
| UPWind < |
| | WMOM / -> Horizontal |
DISCRETization < | \ Vertical > &
| |
| CORRdep |
| |
| TRANSPort / -> Horizontal |
| \ Vertical |
| NONe |
| |
| FIRstorder |
| |
| HIGherorder [kappa] |
| |
| | -> SWEBy [phi] |
| | |
| LIMiter < RKAPpa [kappa] |
| | |
| | PLKAPpa [kappa] [mbound] |
| FROmm |
| |
| -> BDF|LUDs |
| |
< QUIck >
| |
| CUI |
| |
| MINMod |
| |
| SUPerbee |
| |
| VANLeer |
| |
| MUScl |
| |
| KORen |
| |
| SMArt |
With this optional command the user can influence the space discretization.
For convection-dominated flows it is possible that wiggles in the solution arise. In that case
upwind discretization may be necessary. At this moment, three types of upwind schemes
are implemented:
• the standard first order upwind scheme
• higher order upwind schemes obtained with the κ−formulation
• TVD schemes with several classes of flux limiters:
– Sweby Φ−limiter
– R−κ limiter
– PL−κ limiter
Schemes of up to third order accuracy can be constructed by piecewise polynomial inter-

polation, the so-called κ−formulation. For all values of κ ∈ [−1, 1], a blended form arises
between second order backward difference scheme (BDF) and second order central differ-
encing. The schemes BDF, QUICK and CUI are obtained by setting κ = −1, 1/2 and
1/3, respectively. The value κ = 0 gives the Fromm’s scheme, while κ = 1 corresponds to
central differencing. For κ 6=1/3 the local truncation error is of second order; for κ =1/3 it
is of third order. All upwind schemes are applied in each computational direction. Hence
no streamline upwinding is used.
In case of transport equations for salinity, temperature, or suspended sediment (keyword

TRANSPORT) a TVD scheme must be applied to prevent wiggles in the solution or to avoid
negative concentration values.
The water depth in velocity points is not uniquely defined. An appropriate approximation
is based on first order upwinding instead of the usual interpolation. To achieve second or-
der accuracy in space, we add a higher order interpolation augmented with a flux limiter.
See keyword CORRDEP.
Conservation properties become crucial for rapidly varied flows. These properties are often
sufficient to get solutions that are acceptable in terms of local energy losses, location of in-
cipient wave breaking, propagation speed of a bore, etc. In flow expansions, the horizontal
advective terms in u− and v−momentum equations are approximated such that they are
consistent with momentum conservation; see option MOMENTUM. In flow contractions, the
approximation is such that constant energy head is preserved along a streamline, i.e. the
Bernoulli equation; see option HEAD.
The default option is the second order backward difference (BDF) scheme (κ = −1) for
76 Chapter 4
all horizontal advective terms in both u/v−momentum and w−momentum equations, and
first order upwinding for the vertical term in the u/v−momentum equation and in the
w−momentum equation. The exception is when the BREAK command is employed, which
in that case the central differences (κ = 1) are applied to all horizontal advective terms
in the u/v−momentum equations. In addition, the water depth in velocity points is ap-
proximated with the MUSCL limiter. All the advection terms in any transport equation
are approximated with the second order Van Leer limiter. By default, SWASH decides
whether energy head or momentum conservation is to be applied. In principle, energy
head conservation will be applied only in strong flow contractions, while elsewhere the
momentum conservation is applied.
The several options described above are exclusively meant for structured grids. With re-
spect to unstructured meshes, however, a robust and efficient upwind-biased scheme for
the horizontal advection terms in the momentum equation has been implemented. The
scheme complies with the Rankine-Hugoniot jump relations and is specifically designed
with a view to preserving the local momentum flux. This is crucial to the simulation of
breaking waves and unsteady bores. This method is generally first order accurate on non-
uniform meshes. In spite of the low-order accuracy of the employed scheme, unstructured
meshes easily allow for local refinement in a way that retains the desired accuracy. Note
that the options with respect to vertical discretizations can still be applied.
UPWIND indicates the type of discretization for momentum equations.
UMOM indicates the discretization employed for u/v−momentum equation.
MOMENTUM indicates that momentum must be conserved everywhere.
HEAD indicates that energy head must be conserved everywhere.
HORIZONTAL indicates the discretization of the horizontal advective terms.
VERTICAL indicates the discretization of the vertical advective terms.
WMOM indicates the discretization employed for w−momentum equation.
CORRDEP indicates the type of discretization for water depth in velocity points.
TRANSPORT indicates the discretization employed for transport equation(s).
NONE indicates that no upwinding is applied, hence the standard
central difference scheme is used.
This is the default in case of vertical advective terms.
FIRSTORDER indicates that the standard first order upwind scheme is used.
HIGHERORDE a higher order upwind κ−scheme is activated.
[kappa] parameter defining the type of κ−scheme used.
For instance, [kappa] = 0.5 gives the QUICK scheme
and [kappa] = 0 the Fromm’s scheme.
Note: −1 ≤ [kappa] ≤ 1.
LIMITER indicates that a TVD scheme with flux limiter must be applied.
SWEBY a Sweby limiter is activated.
[phi] parameter defining the type of Sweby limiter used. For instance,
[phi] = 1 defines the minmod limiter.
Note: 1 ≤ [phi] ≤ 2.
RKAPPA an R−κ limiter is activated.

PLKAPPA a PL−κ limiter is activated.
[mbound] parameter indicating the upper bound of the PL−κ limiter.
Note: [mbound] > 0.
FROMM indicates the Fromm’s scheme.
BDF indicates the second order backward upwind scheme.
This is the default in case of horizontal advective terms.
QUICK indicates the QUICK scheme.
CUI indicates the CUI scheme.
MINMOD indicates the minmod limiter.
SUPERBEE indicates the superbee limiter.
VANLEER indicates the Van Leer limiter.
MUSCL indicates the MUSCL limiter.
This is the default in case of CORRDEP.
KOREN indicates the Koren limiter.
SMART indicates the SMART limiter.
| MIN
|
| -> MEAN
BOTCel <
| MAX
|
| SHIFt
With this optional command the user can determine how the bottom levels need to be
computed in cell centers.
The bottom levels are usually defined in the corners of computational cells. These bottom
levels have been extracted from the input grid (see command INPGRID BOTTOM). Neverthe-
less, SWASH uses a staggered grid and to determine the total water depth at water level
points, a bottom level in the cell center is then required. As a rule, we take the average
bottom level from the surrounding bottom corners to determine the total depth at cell
center. This is fine for many cases. However, in the vicinity of steep bottom slopes, use
of the average bottom level may lead to an inaccurate flooding and drying process (e.g.
too much or too less volume of water left on tidal flats or flood plains) or inaccurate tide
propagation. Another example is the inaccurate computation of pressure in front of the
vertical wall which may negatively affect wave overtopping. For those situations it is more
appropriate to take the bottom level at cell center being equal to the minimum of the
78 Chapter 4
surrounding bottom levels at the corner points. This so-called tiled bottom approach is
also suitable to represent a small channel of one grid cell width.
Alternatively, it is possible to specify the bottom level at cell center as the maximum of the
surrounding bottom levels or being shifted from the upper-right corner of the computational
cell. This latter implies that, if the bottom input grid is identical to the computational
grid in terms of resolution and orientation, the user-defined bottom values are specified on
input at cell centers (instead of upper-right corners).
Note that for determining the bottom level in cell centers the positive downwards orienta-
tion is considered. So the minimum operation results into the shallowest bottom level. As
a consequence, when the bottom level is above the reference level, i.e. a negative value,
the maximum operation should be chosen, instead of the minimum one, in the context of
the tiled bottom approach.
The default option is MEAN.

MIN the bottom level in cell center is the minimum of the four surrounding
bottom corner points.
MEAN the bottom level in cell center is the average of the four surrounding
MAX the bottom level in cell center is the maximum of the four surrounding
SHIFT the bottom level in upper-right corner is shifted to the cell center.
| -> EXPL [cfllow] [cflhig] |

TIMEI METH < > &
| IMPL [thetac] [thetas] SOLVer [tol] [maxiter] [weight] |
VERTical [thetau] [thetaw] [thetat]
With this optional command the user can influence the time integration.
If time integration is explicit, a time step restriction must be applied based on a Courant
number associated with the long wave speed. For definition, see Appendix A. Note that
a maximum Courant number of 0.5 is advised in case of high waves, nonlinearities (e.g.
wave breaking, wave-wave interactions), and wave interaction with structures with steep
slopes (e.g. quays, piers).
An automatic time step control is implemented as follows. The actual maximum of the
Courant number over all wet grid points is determined. The time step is halved when this
number becomes larger than a preset constant [cflhig] < 1, and the time step is doubled
when this number is smaller than another constant [cfllow], which is small enough to be
sure the time step can be doubled. Information on the actual time step changes is provided
in the PRINT file.
If time integration is semi-implicit, then the gradient of the water level in the momentum
equations and the velocity divergence in the (global) continuity equation are discretized
implicitly by means of the θ−method, while both the horizontal advective and viscosity
terms are discretized explicitly. As a consequence, the stability of the method will not
depend upon the long wave speed. However, the time step will be restricted owing to the
explicit treatment of the horizontal advective terms, although this restriction is mild. This
method is particular useful and efficient for the simulation of three-dimensional circulation
driven by buoyancy, tides and winds, as the Courant number can easily be larger than 1
while still providing sufficiently accurate solution.
This semi-implicit time stepping requires the solution of a system of linear equations to
obtain the water levels. This system is symmetric and positive definite and can be solved
efficiently by using a preconditioned conjugate gradient method. The keyword SOLVER
controls the use of this iterative method. The iteration process stops if the norm of the
residual falls below a small fraction of the initial residual; this small fraction is the user
prescribed error tolerance [tol]. The preconditioner is a weighted combination of ILUD
and its modified variant MILUD. For details on the weighting parameter α, which may
improve the convergence, see command NONHYDROSTATIC. This parameter is indicated by
[weight].
When dealing with floating objects interacting with waves (e.g. a moored ship), the flow is
locally pressurized. In this case explicit methods cannot be employed. Instead, the semi-
implicit approach must be applied which amounts to the solution of a piecewise linear
system of equations to obtain the water levels for free surface flow and the piezometric
head for pressurized flow. Since each grid point is labeled with either free surface or
pressurized in a proper way, this system can still be solved efficiently by the same solver;
see command SOLVER.
In the multi-layered mode, the vertical advective and viscosity terms in the momentum
and transport equations are discretized implicitly by means of the θ−method.
METHOD with this option the type of time integration is indicated.

EXPLICIT indicates that the time integration is explicit.
[cfllow] minimum Courant number to be used for automatic time step control.
Default: [cfllow] = 0.4
[cflhig] maximum Courant number to be used for automatic time step control.
Default: [cflhig] = 0.8
IMPLICIT indicates that the time integration is semi-implicit.
[thetac] parameter for the θ−method applied to the continuity equation.
80 Chapter 4
[thetac] = 0.5 corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson scheme and

[thetac] = 1 to the implicit Euler scheme.
Default: [thetac] = 0.5
[thetas] parameter for the θ−method applied to the water level gradient.
[thetas] = 0.5 corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson scheme and
[thetas] = 1 to the implicit Euler scheme.
Default: [thetas] = 0.5
SOLVER With this option the user can influence some of the parameters of
the preconditioned conjugate gradient method.
[tol] error tolerance to terminate the iteration process.
Default: [tol] = 0.01
[weight] weighting parameter for the (M)ILUD preconditioning. [weight] = 0
corresponds to ILUD and [weight] = 1 corresponds to MILUD.
Default: [weight] = 0.9
VERTICAL with this option the time integration of vertical terms is indicated.
[thetau] parameter for the θ−method in case of the u/v−momentum equation.
[thetau] = 0.5 corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson scheme and
[thetau] = 1 to the implicit Euler scheme.
Default: [thetau] = 0.5
[thetaw] parameter for the θ−method in case of the w−momentum equation.
[thetaw] = 0.5 corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson scheme and
[thetaw] = 1 to the implicit Euler scheme.
Default: [thetaw] = 0.5
[thetat] parameter for the θ−method in case of the transport equation.
[thetat] = 0.5 corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson scheme and
[thetat] = 1 to the implicit Euler scheme.
Default: [thetat] = 0.5
4.6 Output
There are two categories of output commands:
1. Locations
commands defining sets of output locations at which the user requires output. Each
set is indicated with a name (’sname’ in this manual) which must be unique and not
more than 8 characters long.
Types of sets of output points:
FRAME to define a set of output locations on a regular grid

GROUP to define a set of output locations on a regular or curvilinear grid

CURVE to define a set of output locations along a curve
RAY to define a set of output locations along a depth or bottom contour line
(with ISOLINE)
ISOLINE to define a set of output locations along a depth or bottom contour line
(with RAY)
POINTS to define a set of isolated output locations
Commands RAY and ISOLINE cannot be used in 1D-MODE. If one gives one name for
two sets of output locations, the first set is lost (first in the sequence in the command
file). Three special names BOTTGRID, COMPGRID and NOGRID are reserved for use by
SWASH (see below). The user may not define sets with these names.
2. Write / plot
commands defining data file output (write) at the above defined set(s) of output
locations:
BLOCK write spatial distributions (only for FRAMEs and GROUPs)

TABLE write output for (set of) output location(s)
Command BLOCK cannot be used in 1D-MODE.
4.6.1 Output locations
FRAme ’sname’ [xpfr] [ypfr] [alpfr] [xlenfr] [ylenfr] [mxfr] [myfr])
With this optional command the user defines output on a rectangular, uniform grid in a
regular frame.
If the set of output locations is identical to a part of the computational grid, then the user
can use the alternative command GROUP.
’sname’ name of the frame defined by this command

[xpfr] x−coordinate of the origin of the frame in problem coordinates
if Cartesian coordinates are used in m
if spherical coordinates are used in degrees (see command COORD)
[ypfr] y−coordinate of the origin of the frame in problem coordinates
82 Chapter 4
[alpfr] direction of the x−axis of the frame (in degrees, Cartesian convention; must be
0 in case of spherical coordinates)
[xlenfr] length of the frame in x−direction
[ylenfr] length of the frame in y−direction
[mxfr] number of meshes in x−direction of the rectangular grid in the frame (one less
than the number of grid points in this direction)
Default: [mxfr]=20
[myfr] number of meshes in y−direction of the rectangular grid in the frame (one less
than the number of grid points in this direction)
Default: [myfr]=20
Some output may be required on a frame that is identical with the bottom input grid
or with the computational grid. These frames need not be defined by the user with this
command FRAME; the frames are always generated automatically by SWASH under the
names ’sname’ = ’BOTTGRID’ (for the bottom grid) and ’sname’ = ’COMPGRID’ (for the
computational grid).
GROUP ’sname’ SUBGrid [ix1] [ix2] [iy1] [iy2]
With this optional command the user defines a group of output locations on a rectangular
or curvilinear grid that is identical with (part of) the computational grid (rectilinear or
curvilinear). Also, the flow variables (surface elevation, velocity components and pressure)
will be outputted in their points of definition according to the Arakawa C-grid staggering.
Such a group may be convenient for the user to obtain output that is not affected by in-
terpolation errors.
Command CGRID should precede this command GROUP.
The subgrid contains those points (ix,iy) of the computational grid for which:
[ix1] ≤ ix ≤ [ix2] and [iy1] ≤ iy ≤ [iy2]
For convenience the size of the group, the corner coordinates and the angle with the
problem coordinate system are written to PRINT file. The origin of the computational grid
is (ix=1,iy=1)!
’sname’ name of the set of output locations defined by this command

[ix1] lowest grid index of subgrid in terms of computational grid in ix-direction
[iy1] lowest grid index of subgrid in terms of computational grid in iy-direction
[ix2] highest grid index of subgrid in terms of computational grid in ix-direction
[iy2] highest grid index of subgrid in terms of computational grid in iy-direction
Limitations:
[ix1]≥1, [ix2]≤[mxc]+1, [iy1]≥1, [iy2]≤[myc]+1 ([mxc] and [myc] as defined in
the command CGRID).
CURve ’sname’ [xp1] [yp1] < [int] [xp] [yp] >
With this optional command the user defines output along a curved line. Actually this
curve is a broken line, defined by the user with its corner points. The values of the output
quantities along the curve are interpolated from the computational grid. This command
may be used more than once to define more curves.
’sname’ name of the curve

[xp1],[yp1] problem coordinates of the first point of the curve
[int] SWASH will generate output at [int]−1 equidistant locations between two
subsequent corner points of the curve (including the two corner points of the curve)
[xp],[yp] problem coordinates of a corner point of the curve. Repeat the group
[int] [xp] [yp] in proper order if there are more corner points on the curve.
RAY ’rname’ [xp1] [yp1] [xq1] [yq1] < [int] [xp] [yp] [xq] [yq] >
With this optional command the user provides SWASH with information to determine out-
put locations along the depth contour line(s) defined subsequently in command ISOLINE
(see below).
The locations are determined by SWASH as the intersections of the depth contour line(s)
and the set of straight rays defined in this command RAY. These rays are characterized by a
84 Chapter 4
set of master rays defined by their start and end positions ([xp],[yp]) and ([xq],[yq]).
Between each pair of sequential master rays thus defined SWASH generates [int]−1 in-
termediate rays by linear interpolation of the start and end positions.
Note that the rays thus defined have nothing in common with wave rays (e.g. as obtained
from conventional refraction computations).
’rname’ name of the set of rays defined by this command.

[xp1],[yp1],problem coordinates of the begin and end points of the first master ray
[xq1],[yq1] if Cartesian coordinates are used in m
[int] number of subdivisions between the previous master ray and the
following master ray defined by the following data (number of
subdivisions is one more than the number of interpolated rays)
[xp],[yp], problem coordinates of the begin and end points of each subsequent master ray
[xq],[yq] if Cartesian coordinates are used in m
| -> DEPth |
ISOline ’sname’ ’rname’ < > [dep]
| BOTtom |
CANNOT BE USED IN 1D-MODE AND IN CASE OF CURVILINEAR GRIDS.
With this optional command the user defines a set of output locations along one depth or
bottom level contour line (in combination with command RAY).
’sname’ name of the set of output locations defined by this command

’rname’ name of the set of rays (as defined in command RAY)
DEPTH indicates the water depth, i.e. still water depth plus still water level
(see command SET) or still water depth plus initial spatially varying
water level (see command INPGRID WLEV).
BOTTOM indicates the still water depth, i.e. the depth with respect to datum level.
[dep] the depth (in meters) of the depth contour line along which output locations
are generated by SWASH.
The set of output locations along the depth contour lines created with this command is of
the type CURVE.
| < [xp] [yp] > |

POINts ’sname’ < >
| FILE ’fname’ |
With this optional command the user defines a set of individual output locations (points).
The coordinates of these points are given in the command itself or read from a file (option
FILE).
’sname’ name of the points

[xp],[yp] problem coordinates of one output location
’fname’ name of the file containing the output locations.
4.6.2 Write or plot computed quantities
| .......... |
QUANTity < > ’short’ ’long’ [lexp] [hexp] [excv] &
| .......... |
[ref] (for output quantity TSEC) &
[dur] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY (for output quantities SETUP, HSIG, HRMS,

MVEL, MTKE and MSAL) &
[depth] (for output quantity HRUN) &
[delrp] (for output quantity RUNUP) &
[xcom] [ycom] [zcom] (for output quantities MOMX, MOMY, MOMZ) &
[alpobj] (for output quantities FORCEX, FORCEY, FORCEZ,

MOMX, MOMY, MOMZ) &
|-> PROBLEMcoord |
< > (for directions and vectors, e.g. VDIR and VEL)
| FRAME |
With this command the user can influence or specify

86 Chapter 4
• the naming of output quantities,
• the accuracy of writing output quantities,
• the definition of some output quantities,
• the duration over which wave parameters and mean current are calculated,
• the center of gravity and rotation angle of floating body for computing hydrodynamic
loads, and
• reference direction for vectors.
|...|
< > the output parameters as given in commands BLOCK and TABLE.
|...|
‘short’ user preferred short name of the output quantity (e.g. the name appearing in
the heading of a table written by SWASH). If this option is not used, SWASH
will use a realistic name.
‘long’ long name of the output quantity (e.g. the name appearing in the heading of a
block output written by SWASH). If this option is not used, SWASH will use a
realistic name.
[lexp] lowest expected value of the output quantity.
[hexp] highest expected value of the output quantity; the highest expected value is
used by SWASH to determine the number of decimals in a table with heading.
So the QUANTITY command can be used in case the default number of decimals
in a table is unsatisfactory.
[excv] in case there is no valid value (e.g. wave height in a dry point) this
exception value of the output quantity is written in a table or block output.
The following data are accepted only in combination with some specific output quantities.
[ref] reference time used for the quantity TSEC.

Default value: starting time of the first computation, except in cases where
this is later than the time of the earliest input. In these cases, the time of
the earliest input is used.
[dur] the time duration over which the wave parameters (e.g. wave height and
setup), mean current or mean turbulence quantities are computed. This
corresponds to the final stage of the simulation period, which should be
long enough to establish steady-state conditions. The corresponding unit
is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days

[depth] the total depth (in m) where inundation takes place. This can be used
to compute the maximum runup height; see output quantity HRUN.
[delrp] the threshold depth (in m) for runup height calculation; see output
quantity RUNUP.
[xcom] x−coordinate of center of mass of floating body (in m) with respect to
the computational grid. To be used to compute the moments acting
on the body; see output quantities MOMX, MOMY and MOMZ.
Default: [xcom] = 0.0
[ycom] y−coordinate of center of mass of floating body (in m).
Default: [ycom] = 0.0
[zcom] z−coordinate of center of mass of floating body (in m).
Default: [zcom] = 0.0
[alpobj] direction of the positive x−axis of the floating object (in degrees, Cartesian
convention) with respect to the computational grid. To be used to compute
the forces and moments acting on the rotated body.
Default: [alpobj] = 0.0
PROBLEMCOORD− vector components are relative to the x− and y−axes of the problem
coordinate system:
• directions are counterclockwise relative to the positive x−axis of the
problem coordinate system if Cartesian direction convention is used
(see command SET)
• directions are relative to North (clockwise) if Nautical direction
convention is used (see command SET)
FRAME If output is requested on sets created by command FRAME or automatically
(COMPGRID or BOTTGRID):
• vector components are relative to the x− and y−axes of the frame
coordinate system
• directions are counterclockwise relative to the positive x−axis of the
frame coordinate system if Cartesian direction convention is used
(see command SET)
• directions are relative to North (clockwise) if Nautical direction
convention is used (see command SET)
Examples:
QUANTITY Xp hexp=100. for simulations of lab. experiments
QUANTITY WLEV VX excv=-9. to change the exception value for
water level and u−component
QUANTITY HSIG SETUP dur 30 min to compute wave height and setup
by averaging surface elevation over
the last 30 minutes of the simulation.
QUANTITY MVEL MSALK dur 1 hr to compute depth-averaged mean velocity
88 Chapter 4
and mean salinity per layer by averaging

these quantities over the last 1 hour of
the simulation.
QUANTITY HRUN depth 0.05 the inundation depth is set to 5 cm.
QUANTITY RUNUP delrp 0.1 the minimum depth is set to 10 cm, above
which the wave runup level is computed.
QUANT MomX xcom=200. ycom=0. zcom=-1. the center of gravity of floating body
is (xc , yc , zc ) = (200, 0, −1) with respect
to the origin of the computational grid
meant to compute the roll moment.
QUANTITY ForceX alpobj=30. the rotation angle of floating body is
30o relative to the computational grid.
QUANTITY VEL VDIR frame to obtain vector components and
direction with respect to the frame.
OUTPut OPTIons ’comment’ (TABle [field]) (BLOck [ndec] [len])
This command enables the user to influence the format of block and table output.
comment a comment character; is used in comment lines in the output

Default: comment = %
field length of one data field in a table. Minimum is 8 and maximum is 16.
Default: field = 12
ndec number of decimals in block (if appearing after keyword BLOCK).
Maximum is 9.
Default: ndec = 4
len number of data on one line of block output. Maximum is 9999.
Default: len = 6
| -> HEADer |
BLOck ’sname’ < > ’fname’ (LAYout [idla])
| NOHEADer |
| DEP |
| |
| BOTL |
| |
| WATL |
| |
| DRAF |
| |
| VMAG |
| |
| VDIR |
| |
| VEL |
| |
| VKSI |
| |
| VETA |
| |
| PRESS |
| |
| NHPRES |
| |
| QMAG |
| |
| QDIR |
| |
| DISCH |
| |
| QKSI |
| |
| QETA |
| |
| VORT |
| |
| WMAG |
| |
| WDIR |
| |
| WIND |
| |
| FRC |
| |
| USTAR |
| |
| UFRIC |
| |
| SAL |
90 Chapter 4
| |
| TEMP |
| |
| SED |
| |
| HRUN |
| |
| BRKP |
| |
| SETUP |
| |
| HS |
| |
| HRMS |
| |
| MVMAG |
| |
| MVDIR |
| |
| MVEL |
| |
| MVKSI |
| |
| MVETA |
| |
| MSAL |
| |
| MTEMP |
| |
| MSED |
| |
| ZK |
| |
| HK |
| | | -> Sec |
< < VMAGK > [unit] > (OUTput [tbegblk] [deltblk]) < MIn >)
| | | HR |
| VDIRK | | DAy |
| |
| VELK |
| |
| VKSIK |
| |
| VETAK |
| |
| VZ |
| |
| VOMEGA |
| |
| SALK |
| |
| TEMPK |
| |
| SEDK |
| |
| TKE |
| |
| EPS |
| |
| VISC |
| |
| QMAGK |
| |
| QDIRK |
| |
| DISCHK |
| |
| QKSIK |
| |
| QETAK |
| |
| PRESSK |
| |
| NHPRSK |
| |
| MVMAGK |
| |
| MVDIRK |
| |
| MVELK |
| |
| MVKSIK |
| |
| MVETAK |
| |
| MSALK |
92 Chapter 4
| |
| MTEMPK |
| |
| MSEDK |
| |
| MTKE |
| |
| MEPS |
| |
| MVISC |
| |
| TIME |
| |
| TSEC |
| |
| XP |
| |
| YP |
| |
| DIST |
| |
| FORCEX |
| |
| FORCEY |
| |
| FORCEZ |
| |
| MOMX |
| |
| MOMY |
| |
| MOMZ |
| |
| RUNUP |
With this optional command the user indicates that one or more spatial distributions
should be written to a file.
’sname’ name of frame or group (see commands FRAME or GROUP)

HEADER with this option the user indicates that the output should be written to a file
with header lines. The text of the header indicates run identification (see
command PROJECT), time, frame name or group name (’sname’), variable and
unit. The number of header lines is 8.

Note: the numerical values in the file are in the units indicated in the header.
NOHEADER with this option the user indicates that the output should be written to a file
without header lines.
’fname’ name of the data file where the output is to be written to.
Default for option HEADER is the PRINT file. In case of NOHEADER the
filename is required. Below a few remarks on the file formats.
Basically, the output files generated by SWASH are human-readable files that
use ASCII character encoding. Such files can be open and edit in any text editor
or can be viewed in Matlab or Excel. However, if the user specifies the extension
of the output file as ‘.mat’, a binary MATLAB file will be generated. This file
requires less space on your computer and can be loaded in MATLAB much faster
than an ASCII file. Also note that the output parameters are stored as single
precision. (Hence, use the Matlab command double for conversion to double
precision, if necessary.) Binary MATLAB files are particularly useful for the
computation with unstructured grids. A number of MATLAB scripts are
provided with the SWASH source code that can be used to plot wave parameters
as maps in a simple way.
Since version 8.01, SWASH can generate VTK files that can be viewed in
Paraview, an open-source, general-purpose visualization package, available for
Windows, Mac and Linux (see https://www.paraview.org). The basic extension
is ‘.vtk’, but SWASH will generate various XML-based file formats depending
on the grid types (*.vts associated with structured grids and *.vtu containing
unstructured mesh data). The VTK XML files are binary, self-descriptive
(include plain text metadata) and portable (cross-platform). In addition, a
key benefit is that there is no need to collect VTK files residing on separate
processes of a distributed memory machine (after execution of SWASH in
parallel). Paraview can simply visualize the whole domain that consists of
several subdomains.
LAY-OUT with this option the user can prescribe the lay-out of the output to file with
the value of [idla].
[idla] see command READINP (options are: [idla]=1, 3, 4). Option 4 is recommended
for postprocessing by MATLAB, however, in case of a generated binary
MATLAB file option 3 is recommended.
Default: [idla] = 1
DEPTH water depth (in m) (not the still water depth!).
BOTLEV bottom level or still water depth (in m).
Output is in both active and non-active points.
Note: exception value for bottom levels must be given!
(See command INPGRID BOTTOM EXCEPTION).
94 Chapter 4
WATLEV water level or surface elevation (in m).

Note: exception value for water levels must be given!
(See command INPGRID WLEVEL EXCEPTION).
DRAFT draft of floating object (in m).
VMAG velocity magnitude (in m/s).
VDIR velocity direction (in degrees; Cartesian or nautical; see command SET).
VEL flow velocity (vector; in m/s).
VKSI grid-oriented U-velocity (in m/s).
Note: not applicable to unstructured meshes.
VETA grid-oriented V-velocity (in m/s).
PRESS pressure at bottom (in hPa).
NHPRES normalised (by density) non-hydrostatic pressure at bottom (in m2 /s2 ).
QMAG magnitude of discharge per unit width (in m2 /s).
QDIR direction of discharge per unit width (in degrees; Cartesian or nautical).
DISCH discharge per unit width (vector; in m2 /s).
QKSI grid-oriented U-discharge per unit width (in m2 /s).
QETA grid-oriented V-discharge per unit width (in m2 /s).
VORT vorticity or rotation of the fluid in depth-averaged flow (in 1/s).
WMAG wind velocity at 10 m above sea level (in m/s).
WDIR wind direction at 10 m above sea level (in degrees; Cartesian or nautical).
WIND wind velocity at 10 m above sea level (vector; in m/s).
FRC bottom friction coefficient (see command FRICTION).
USTAR magnitude of friction velocity (in m/s).
UFRIC friction velocity (vector; in m/s).
SAL salinity (in ppt).
TEMP temperature (o C).
SED suspended sediment (in kg/m3 ).
HRUN represents the maximum horizontal runup by masking inundated points
as 1 and non-inundated points as 0.
BRKP represents area of wave breaking by masking breaking points as 1
and non-breaking points as 0.
SETUP wave-induced setup (in m).
HSIG significant wave height (in m; for definition, see Appendix A).
HRMS RMS wave height (in m; for definition, see Appendix A).
MVMAG time-averaged or mean velocity magnitude (in m/s).
MVDIR time-averaged or mean velocity direction (in degrees; Cartesian or nautical;
see command SET).
MVEL time-averaged or mean velocity (vector; in m/s).
MVKSI time-averaged or mean grid-oriented U-velocity (in m/s).

MVETA time-averaged or mean grid-oriented V-velocity (in m/s).
MSAL time-averaged or mean salinity (in ppt).
MTEMP time-averaged or mean temperature (o C).
MSED time-averaged or mean suspended sediment (in kg/m3 ).
ZK layer interface (in m).
HK layer thickness (in m).
VMAGK velocity magnitude per layer (in m/s).
VDIRK velocity direction per layer (in degrees; Cartesian or nautical).
VELK flow velocity per layer (vector; in m/s).
VKSIK grid-oriented U-velocity per layer (in m/s).
VETAK grid-oriented V-velocity per layer (in m/s).
VZ velocity in z−direction (in m/s).
VOMEGA vertical velocity relative to sigma plane (in m/s).
SALK salinity per layer (in ppt).
TEMPK temperature per layer (o C).
SEDK suspended sediment per layer (in kg/m3 ).
TKE turbulent kinetic energy per layer interface (in m2 /s2 ).
EPS dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy per layer interface (in m2 /s3 ).
VISC vertical eddy viscosity per layer interface (in m2 /s).
QMAGK magnitude of discharge per unit width per layer (in m2 /s).
QDIRK direction of discharge per unit width per layer (in degrees; Cartesian or nautical).
DISCHK discharge per unit width per layer (vector; in m2 /s).
QKSIK grid-oriented U-discharge per unit width per layer (in m2 /s).
QETAK grid-oriented V-discharge per unit width per layer (in m2 /s).
PRESSK pressure per layer (in hPa).
NHPRSK normalised (by density) non-hydrostatic pressure per layer (in m2 /s2 ).
MVMAGK time-averaged or mean velocity magnitude per layer (in m/s).
MVDIRK time-averaged or mean velocity direction per layer (in degrees;
Cartesian or nautical; see command SET).
MVELK time-averaged or mean velocity per layer (vector; in m/s).
MVKSIK time-averaged or mean grid-oriented U-velocity per layer (in m/s).
MVETAK time-averaged or mean grid-oriented V-velocity per layer (in m/s).
MSALK time-averaged or mean salinity per layer (in ppt).
MTEMPK time-averaged or mean temperature per layer (o C).
96 Chapter 4
MSEDK time-averaged or mean suspended sediment per layer (in kg/m3 ).

MTKE time-averaged or mean turbulent kinetic energy per layer interface (in m2 /s2 ).
MEPS time-averaged or mean dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy per
layer interface (in m2 /s3 ).
MVISC time-averaged or mean vertical eddy viscosity per layer interface (in m2 /s).
TIME full date-time string as part of line used in TABLE only.
TSEC time in seconds with respect to a reference time (see command QUANTITY).
XP user instructs SWASH to write the x−coordinate in the problem coordinate system
of the output location.
YP user instructs SWASH to write the y−coordinate in the problem coordinate system
of the output location.
DIST if output has been requested along a curve (see command CURVE) then the distance
along the curve can be obtained with the command TABLE. DIST is the distance
along the curve measured from the first point on the curve to the output location
on the curve in meters (also in the case of spherical coordinates).
FORCEX x−component of the force acting on floating body (surge; in N)
Note: to be used in TABLE only with the empty set NOGRID.
FORCEY y−component of the force acting on floating body (sway; in N).
FORCEZ z−component of the force acting on floating body (heave; in N).
MOMX x−component of the moment acting on floating body (roll; in Nm).
MOMY y−component of the moment acting on floating body (pitch; in Nm).
MOMZ z−component of the moment acting on floating body (yaw; in Nm).
RUNUP (vertical) runup height (in m).
NOT FOR 2D-MODE.
[unit] this controls the scaling of output. The program divides computed values by
[unit] before writing to file, so the user should multiply the written value
by [unit] to obtain the proper value.
Default: if HEADER is selected, value is written as a 5 position integer.
SWASH takes [unit] such that the largest number occurring in the block
can be printed.
If NOHEADER is selected, values are printed in floating-point format, [unit] = 1.
OUTPUT the user requests output at various times. If the user does not use this option, the
program will give BLOCK output for the last time step of the computation.
[tbegblk] begin time of the first field of the variable, the format is:
1 : ISO-notation 19870530.153000
4 : 15:30:00
5 : 87/05/30 15:30:00’
6 : as in WAM 8705301530
7 : 153000.000
[deltblk] time interval between fields, the unit is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
Notes:
• The x− and y−components of the vectorial quantities VEL, DISCH, UFRIC, etc. are
always given with respect to the problem coordinate system.
• For direction in Cartesian convention: relative to x−axis of the problem coordinate

system (counterclockwise). Possible exception: in the case of output with BLOCK
command in combination with command FRAME, see command QUANTITY.
• For a proper use of the quantity HRUN, take into account the following notes:
1. Quantity HRUN indicates the maximum horizontal runup that occur during the
whole simulation. So, it should be plotted at the final time step.
2. The correct values for HRUN are 0 and 1 only. To prevent interpolation, use the
command GROUP.
3. The horizontal runup is associated with the inundation depth. The default value
is the threshold water depth; see command SET. Otherwise it is determined by
the user using the command QUANTITY HRUN depth.
4. To determine the (vertical) runup height with respect to the still water level,
also plot the quantity BOTLEV. At those locations where HRUN is for the first time
zero, the corresponding value of −1× BOTLEV indicates the runup height.
5. To find and plot the location of inundation use the following Matlab script:
BWs=edge(Hrunup,’sobel’);
hrp=zeros(size(BWs,1),size(BWs,2));
hrp(BWs==1)=1;
hrp(hrp==0)=NaN;
x=Xp(find(hrp==1));
y=Yp(find(hrp==1));
98 Chapter 4
Note the quantities XP and YP must be included as well.

• Quantity BRKP indicates areas where wave breaking occur. The correct values for
BRKP are 0 (no breaking) and 1 (breaking) only. To prevent interpolation, use the
command GROUP. In this way, white spots can be visualised.
• The wave parameters SETUP, HSIG and HRMS are determined by averaging the surface
elevation over the duration [dur] as specified in command QUANTITY. Hence, they
are regarded as stationary quantities and must be plotted at the final time step only.
• The mean currents MVEL, MVELK, etc. are determined by averaging the velocities over
the duration [dur] as specified in command QUANTITY. Hence, they are regarded as
stationary quantities and must be plotted at the final time step only.
• The mean constituents MSAL, MTEMP and MSED are determined by averaging the con-
stituents over the duration [dur] as specified in command QUANTITY. Hence, they
are regarded as stationary quantities and must be plotted at the final time step only.
• The mean turbulence quantities MTKE, MEPS and MVISC are determined by averaging
the turbulence quantities over the duration [dur] as specified in command QUANTITY.
Hence, they are regarded as stationary quantities and must be plotted at the final
time step only.
• The hydrodynamic forces that act on the floating body (e.g. a moored ship or
pontoon), FORCEX, FORCEY and FORCEZ, are found by integrating the total pressure
over the wet surface of the body. The moments around the center of gravity of
the body, MOMX, MOMY and MOMZ, are computed as the integral of the product of the
pressure and the moment arm, which is the distance to the center of the body (see
command QUANTITY), over the wet surface of the body. These output quantities are
thus space independent, can be specified with the command TABLE only, and the
empty set NOGRID must be chosen.
• The runup height RUNUP is computed by the intersection between free surface and
bottom level. Three assumptions have been made for the calculation of this runup
height.
1. A minimum water depth larger than zero is assumed. The default value is the
threshold water depth; see command SET. Otherwise it is determined by the
user using the command QUANTITY RUNUP delrp.
2. The simulation is carried out in 1D-mode.
3. The wave condition is imposed on the west boundary of the computational
domain (either regular or irregular), so that the wave propagation is pointing
eastward.
This output quantity is space independent, can be specified with the command TABLE
only, and the empty set NOGRID must be chosen.
| -> HEADer |
| |
TABle ’sname’ < NOHEADer > ’fname’ &
| |
| SWASH |
| ... | | -> Sec |

< < > > (OUTput [tbegtbl] [delttbl] < MIn >)
| ... | | HR |
| DAy |
With this optional command the user indicates that for each location of the output location
set ’sname’ (see commands POINTS, CURVE, FRAME or GROUP) one or more variables should
be written to a file. Some quantities are space independent and vary in time only. These
are e.g. the wave runup height and the hydrodynamic loads (forces and moments acting
on a floating object). For these quantities we choose an empty output set with the name
’sname’ = ’NOGRID’.
The keywords HEADER and NOHEADER determine the appearance of the table; the filename
determines the destination of the data.
’sname’ name of the set of POINTS, CURVE, FRAME, GROUP or the empty set NOGRID.
HEADer output is written in fixed format to file with headers giving name of variable
and unit per column. A disadvantage of this option is that the data are written
in fixed format; numbers too large to be written will be shown as: ****.
Number of header lines is 4.
NOHEADer output is written in floating point format to file and has no headers; it is
intended primarily for processing by other programs. With some spreadsheet
programs, however, the HEADER option works better.
SWASH a table on file is produced with a special fixed format appropriate for
layer-dependent quantities. This file contains headers with useful
information for a correct interpretation of the data.
’fname’ name of the data file where the output is to be written to.
Default for option HEADER is output to the PRINT file.
In case of NOHEADER the filename is required.
|...|
< > the output parameters as given in command BLOCK.
|...|
OUTPUT the user requests output at various times. If the user does not use this option,
the program will give TABLE output for the last time step of the computation.
[tbegtbl] begin time of the first field of the variable, the format is:
100 Chapter 4
1 : ISO-notation 19870530.153000
4 : 15:30:00
5 : 87/05/30 15:30:00’
6 : as in WAM 8705301530
7 : 153000.000
[delttbl] time interval between fields, the unit is indicated in the next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
Notes:
• The number of decimals in the table varies for the output parameters; it depends on
the value of [hexp], given in the command QUANTITY.
• It is advised to use the command HEAD or SWASH in case of outputting layer-dependent

quantities (e.g. ZK, VELK, PRESSK, etc.). With the command SWASH, the quantity TIME
is automatically included.
4.6.3 Write or plot intermediate results
| | < [i] [j] > | |

| -> IJ < > |
TEST [itest] [itrace] POINTS < | < [k] > | > &
| |
| XY < [x] [y] > |
(FILE ‘fname’)
If SWASH produces unexpected results, this optional command can be used to instruct
the program to produce intermediate results during a SWASH run (test output). A TEST
command may change between commands in the file to change the level of test output dur-
ing a SWASH run. This change occurs during the execution of the run. A TEST command
controls the test output until the next TEST command. Such a next TEST command may
have level 0, thus stopping test output.
[itest] the level of test output. For values under 100 the amount is usually reasonable,
for values above 200 it can be very large. For values of [itest] up to 50 the
test output can be interpreted by the user. For higher values of [itest] the
test output can only be interpreted by those who have the program source
listing at their disposal.
For instance, with [itest] = 30, one may check mass and energy conservation,
if appropriate.
Default: [itest] = 1
[itrace] SWASH writes a message (name of subroutine) to the PRINT file at the first
[itrace] entries of each subroutine.
Default: [itrace] = 0
POINTS if this option is used, the user instructs SWASH to produce detailed print output
during the computational process for a grid point of the computational grid.
Output at a maximum of 50 grid points is possible. This option can be used
only after the bathymetry has been read (see command READINP BOTTOM).
IJ the test points are defined by means of grid indices.
[i], [j] grid indices of a test point. Values of [i] range from 1 to [mxc]+1
(see command CGRID), values of [j] from 1 to [myc]+1.
[k] vertex index of a test point. This can be obtained in a grid generator file
(.node and .n files of Triangle and Easymesh, respectively).
ONLY MEANT FOR UNSTRUCTURED GRIDS.
XY the test points are defined in terms of problem coordinates; SWASH will determine
the nearest grid points. Output will be made for this selected grid point.
[x], [y] coordinates of a test point (problem coordinates in meters in case of Cartesian
coordinates, or longitude and latitude in degrees in case of spherical coordinates,
see command COORD).
FILE some flow variables for test points are written.
‘fname’ name of the file to which the output is written; default filename: DIAGNOSTIC.
4.7 Lock-up
| -> Sec |
COMPute [tbegc] [deltc] < MIn > [tendc]
| HR |
| DAy |
This command orders SWASH to start the computation.

102 Chapter 4
[tbegc] the start (date and) time of the computation, the format is
1 : ISO-notation 19870530.153000
4 : 15:30:00
5 : 87/05/30 15:30:00’
6 : as in WAM 8705301530
7 : 153000.000
[deltc] the time step of the computation, the unit is indicated in the
next option:
SEC unit seconds
MIN unit minutes
HR unit hours
DAY unit days
[tendc] the end time of the computation, format see [tbegc].
STOP
This required command marks the end of the commands in the command file. Note that
the command STOP may be the last command in the input file; any information in the
input file beyond this command is ignored.
Chapter 5
Setting up your own command file
In this chapter some guidelines for setting up a command file is given. This file contains all
the necessary commands and data required for defining a model and running the simulation.
All the commands and keywords are listed in Appendix C. Not all the commands need to
be specified. Most of them will be taken default. Generally, a command file consists of five
parts which must be specified by the user:
1. a computational grid,
2. some input grids, most notably the bathymetry,
3. initial and boundary conditions,
4. some physical and numerical parameters, and
5. output quantities, output locations and output formats.
5.1 Computational grid

A distinction is made between the definition of grids in horizontal and vertical directions.
In the horizontal direction, either rectilinear, curvilinear or unstructured mesh can be em-
ployed. The grid definition in vertical direction is defined by means of a fixed number
of layers in a such a way that both the bottom topography and the free surface can be
accurately represented; see also Figure 5.1.
First we need to define the size and direction of the computational domain in the hori-
zontal plane. The area of interest should be kept at least two wave lengths away from the
boundaries. Note that if a sponge layer needs to be included, the computational domain
needs to be extended with the size of that sponge layer. It is always wise to choose the
grid axes being aligned as much as possible with the dominant wave direction.
An important aspect of specifying a computational grid is the spatial resolution. In prin-

ciple, most energetic wave components need to be resolved accurately on the grid. Basically,
103
104 Chapter 5
we take sufficient number of grid points per wave length associated with the peak wave
energy. For low waves, i.e. H/d ≪ 1 with H a characteristic wave height (either significant
or RMS) and d the (still) water depth, it is sufficient to take 50 grid cells (or 51 grid
points) per peak wave length. However, for relatively high waves, it is better to take at
least 100 grid cells per peak wave length. So, at least, we need to know something about a
typical water depth and a typical peak period. Based on the linear dispersion relation the
corresponding peak wave length can be found.
An example. We have a domain of 1500 m alongshore and 1200 m cross-shore of which

the deepest part is 20 m. We impose a wave spectrum at the entrance with a significant
wave height of 2 m and a peak period of 10 s. According to the linear dispersion relation
the peak wave length is about 120 m and Hs /d = 0.1. Hence, the waves are not too low
but also not too high either. So, for safety, we choose 100 grid cells per peak wave length
which implies a grid size of 1.2 m. Since the dominant wave direction is cross-shore, we
may relax the grid size alongshore by choosing 3 m. So, the total number of grid cells for
the computational domain would be 500 × 1000.
Keep in mind, however, that waves become shorter when the water depth decreases. Hence,
for a desired number of grid cells per wave length the grid resolution must therefore be
higher locally. In this respect, a rectangular, nonuniform grid is recommended. The desired
number of grid cells for this case may be lesser than the one associated with the peak wave
length. A rule of thumb is 15 to 20 cells.
However, to further enhance the flexibility with respect to local grid refinements at places
where needed, either a boundary-fitted, orthogonal curvilinear grid or an unstructured tri-
angular mesh may be applied. Such meshes must be generated externally. The user is,
however, strongly advised to define the computational domain as a rectangle with one of
the axis being aligned with the dominant wave direction.
Another issue is the choice of the number of layers. This choice mainly depends on two
types of application:
• vertical flow structures, and
• wave transformation.
If one is interested in the vertical flow structures, e.g. undertow and stratified flows, then at
least 10 or perhaps more vertical layers should be adopted. If necessary, a non-equidistant
layer distribution can be specified; see Figure 5.1. The layer thickness hk , which is the
distance between two consecutive layer interfaces, may be defined in a relative way, i.e. a
percentage of the water depth similar to the σ−coordinates, or in an absolute way, i.e. a
constant or fixed layer thickness as expressed in meters. To make sure that the sum of the
layer thicknesses equals the water depth, at least one layer must be defined in a relative
way. The choice for fixed layers may be useful in the case of a bathymetry exhibiting
strong variation of the depth, such as a lake with some pits, in order to keep the vertical
Setting up your own command file 105
z0 = ζ
zk-1
hk
zk
zK = - d
Figure 5.1: Vertical grid definition with K layers and K+1 layer interfaces.
resolution relatively high along the bottom.
Concerning the wave transformation, the number of layers is determined by the linear
frequency dispersion. In particular, the dimensionless depth, kd with k the wave number,
decides the number of layers. The higher the value of kd, the more vertical layers needed. In
addition, the accuracy with which the phase velocity of the wave components, c = ω/k with
ω the angular frequency, is obtained depends on the discretization of the vertical pressure
gradient in the momentum equations. For wave transformation usually the Keller-box
scheme is adopted; see Section 5.4.3.
The range of applicability of the SWASH model to values of kd indicating the relative
importance of linear wave dispersion for primary waves is given in Table 5.1. This
√ range
is determined by requiring a relative error in the normalized wave celerity (= c/ gd) of
Table 5.1: Range of dimensionless depth as function of number of layers K in SWASH.

K range error
1 kd ≤ 0.5 1%
1 kd ≤ 2.9 3%
2 kd ≤ 7.7 1%
3 kd ≤ 16.4 1%
at most 1%. An exception is the use of one vertical layer where the relative error is 3%,
which is acceptable for many applications. Here, at most three layers may be considered
enough for typical wave simulations. Moreover, the layers are assumed to have variable
thicknesses and be equally distributed, which is the usual choice for wave simulations. So,
do not use fixed layers!
It is noted that SWASH uses its own dispersion relation, which is an approximate one of
106 Chapter 5
the exact linear dispersion relation, given by
ω 2 = gk tanh(kd)
This approximate relation is derived using the Keller-box scheme (see Section 5.4.3) and
depends on the number of equidistant layers employed in the model. The linear dispersion
relation of SWASH using one vertical layer, i.e. depth-averaged, is given by
kd
ω 2 = gk
1 + 41 k 2 d2
while for two and three equidistant layers, it is given by

1 3 3
2 kd + 16 k d
ω = gk 3 2 2 1 4 4
1 + 8 k d + 256 k d
and
5 3 3 1
2 kd + 54 k d + 1296 k 5 d5
ω = gk 5 2 2 5 4 4 1
1 + 12 k d + 432 k d + 46656 k 6 d6
respectively. Thus the approximate dispersion relation is consistent with the model, par-
ticularly for relatively high wave frequencies. This will lead to more accurate results.
The approximate dispersion relation in SWASH is only available for one, two and three
equidistant layers with variable thickness (i.e. sigma planes, not fixed layers). SWASH
shall indicate this in the PRINT file.
So, for primary waves with kd ≤ 2.9, use of one layer is sufficient, while at least two
equidistant layers need to be chosen if kd ≤ 7.7. For most typical nearshore wave simula-
tions, two layers may be enough. In the example above, kd = 1.04, so one vertical layer
would be enough.
However, one must realized that, for a given number of layers, relatively high harmonics
may propagate too slow at a given depth. For example, using one layer, SWASH is accurate
up to a kd value of 2.9 for primary waves. For a depth of 20 m (deepest part in the example
above), the shortest wave that can accurately modelled at this depth has a frequency of
0.18 Hz (minimum wave period of 5.6 s; derived from the approximate dispersion relation
above). In other words, for a given number of layers and a water depth, there is a max-
imum frequency above which a wave component has an incorrect celerity; see Table 5.2.
This means, for instance, that the phase differences between the concerning harmonics are
wrong. This is particularly important when nonlinear effects are dominant1 .
Ideally, the maximum frequency is about 1.5 to 2 times the peak frequency at a given
depth. It is then assumed that all components above this maximum frequency have a
1
If one is interested in propagation of very short waves in the surf zone (d ∼ 0.5 m) with f < 4 Hz, while
these waves exchange energy through nonlinear interactions, the user is advised to choose six equidistant
layers. By using these number of layers, the maximum relative error for kd < 40 remains below 0.1%.
Table 5.2: Maximum frequency (in Hz) as function of still water depth (in m) and number
of layers.
d (m) K=1 K=2 K=3
1 0.82 1.37 2.00
5 0.37 0.61 0.89
10 0.26 0.43 0.63
15 0.21 0.35 0.52
20 0.18 0.31 0.45
25 0.16 0.27 0.40
30 0.15 0.25 0.36
35 0.14 0.23 0.34
40 0.13 0.22 0.32
45 0.12 0.20 0.30
50 0.12 0.19 0.28
100 0.08 0.14 0.20
little bit amount of energy (here the presuming spectrum shape is a Jonswap one). As a
consequence, the phase differences between the representative wave components, including
the relatively short waves, are thus well controlled in the model.
Referred to the example above, the peak frequency at the wavemaker boundary is 0.1 Hz,
while the depth is 20 m. The required maximum frequency should be at least 0.15 Hz or
preferably higher. So, the use of one layer would be critical when propagation of short
waves with frequencies higher than 0.18 Hz needs to be modelled accurately.
5.2 Input grids

The most important input grid is the bathymetric grid. This grid represents the bottom
level at each grid point with land points defined as negative while wet points are defined
as positive. The resolution of bathymetric grid is not necessarily the same as that of the
computational grid. It is advised to avoid extremely steep bottom slopes or sharp obstacles
as much as possible. Some kind of smoothing or re-interpolation is therefore recommended.
Jetties, piers and quays, or other impermeable walls, may be schematized either
• by including their slopes in the bathymetry, or
• by means of porosity layers with a small porosity (n < 0.1), or
• a combination of the first two options.
From a stability point of view, the second option is the best one. However, the first option
may be a better choice when, for instance, wave diffraction around the berm of the quay
108 Chapter 5
need to be simulated accurately. To avoid unrealistically high surface elevation around

the quays or possible instabilities due to steep slopes, this first option may be combine
with a larger threshold of the water depth; see Section 5.4.6 and command SET DEPMIN.
The default value of this threshold is 0.05 mm. Depending on the horizontal grid sizes
(∆x, ∆y), and thereby the actual slope, this threshold may be increase to 0.1 mm or even
1 mm in order to get a stable solution. The higher the grid resolution, the higher this
threshold should be set. But be careful as this higher threshold may negatively influence
mass conservation.
Instead, however, a combination is also possible, i.e. to place the porosity layer on top of
the quay walls, and having a volumetric porosity of 20% and a grain size of 0.1 m.
A rubble mound breakwater must be schematized by means of porosity layers. These lay-
ers must be placed inside the computational domain. Rubble mound breakwaters have
a typical porosity value of (n=) 0.4, while the stone size of the armour layer is typically
0.5 m. The berm of the breakwater can be specified by means of the structure heights
(relative to the bottom). In case of two or more breakwaters in the domain, both porosity
and structure height are thus spatially varied, and so they need to be inputted by means
of input grids. Also stone diameters need to be specified as well.
Alternatively, the porosity layers may be placed on top of the impermeable core of the
breakwater which, in turn, is schematized by adapting the bottom level. In addition, the
berm of the breakwater is schematized by including its slope in the adapted bathymetry.
The width of the breakwater should be at least four times the grid size of the computa-
tional grid. So, the grid resolution should be high enough. When choosing a too coarse
grid size, it may lead to an overestimation of the transmission and an underestimation of
the reflection.
This way of schematization permits to simulate partial reflection and transmission of the
waves through breakwaters. Wave reflection at a breakwater is typically determined by
wave energy dissipation on the slope and wave penetration into the breakwater. Both
processes are equally important, and thus both slope angle and porosity are important
governing parameters for the wave reflection.
Using the command INPGRID BOTTOM EXCEPTION, one can introduce permanently dry
points in the computational grid. This provides a means to make a line of dams or screens
through the computational domain, separating the flow on both sides. This line of thin
dams may represent a small obstacle with subgrid dimensions that possibly influence the
local flow. It must be noted that for parallel runs using MPI the user must indicate an
exception value for bottom levels, if appropriate, in order to obtain good load balancing.
The water depth should be uniform along the wavemaker boundary where incident waves
are imposed.
If tidal currents are significant over the computational domain, the spatial distribution of
the currents u(x, y) should be specified as an input grid.
5.3 Initial and boundary conditions

To solve the continuity and momentum equations, appropriate boundary conditions need
to be imposed at the boundaries of the computational grid.
In general, initial conditions are more important for relative short simulations (e.g. a few
minutes in case of short waves or a few days in case of tidal waves). Boundary conditions
are by far more important for longer simulations. Moreover, often no information is avail-
able in order to start the simulation. Therefore, the simulation will usually start with zero
velocities and a spatially constant water level, and the simulation will be long enough to
get a steady-state solution; see also Section 5.4.1.
Waves may be generated along one or two boundaries. These are called wavemaker bound-
aries. First, it is assumed that the boundaries are not curved. Thus, the use of curvilinear
grids is restricted to rectangular domains with nonuniform grids. Second, it is assumed
that the variation of the depth along these wavemaker boundaries is slowly or (preferably)
constant. Third, it is advised to place these wavemaker boundaries away from the area of
interest, and away from steep topography. At the wavemaker boundary, we may imposed
either regular or irregular waves. For one-dimensional cases they are by definition long-
crested or uni-directional. For a two-dimensional case short-crested or multi-directional
waves can also be specified. Usually, a time series need to be given for incident waves.
This may either be synthesized from parametric information (wave height, period, etc.) or
derived from a surface elevation time series.
For regular waves, at least the wave height and the wave period must be specified. Op-
tionally, the wave direction can be specified as well. Alternatively, a time series can be
imposed.
For irregular waves, either a spectrum or time series can be enforced. In the case of a
spectrum, both the shape and wave characteristics need to be specified. The usual shape
is either Jonswap or Pierson-Moskowitz. Sometimes a TMA shape is desired. The wave
characteristics are determined by the following parameters: the significant or RMS wave
height, peak or first order mean period, peak wave direction, and directional spreading
(only in case of short-crested waves). The frequency range [fmin , fmax ] is such that the
highest frequency, fmax , equals 3 times the peak frequency (or mean frequency), while the
lowest one, fmin , equals half of the peak/mean frequency.
Alternatively, a spectrum file may be given. There are two types of files:
• A file containing 1D or non-directional wave spectrum (usually from measurements).

110 Chapter 5
• A file containing 2D or directional wave spectrum (possibly from another SWAN

run).
Using a spectrum a time series of surface elevation will be synthesized. At least, the
length of this series should correspond to the time period over which surface elevation and
velocities are outputted after steady-state condition has been established. This time period
should be long enough to provide statistically reliable wave data. After this time period
the time series repeats itself. This duration of the time series is called the cycle period
(see command BOUnd ... SPECTrum ... [cycle]). The recommended range is from
100 to 300 wave periods. If the cycle period is denoted as Tcycle , then the frequency step
∆f to be used for the evaluation of the parametric spectrum (e.g. Jonswap) equals
1
∆f =
Tcycle
Thus the spectrum is divided into N frequency bins with uniform spacing ∆f ,
fmax − fmin
N=
∆f
Referring to the above example, we impose a Jonswap spectrum at the wavemaker bound-
ary. The peak period is 10 s, so that the frequencies are in between 0.05 Hz and 0.3 Hz.
The duration of the time series of surface elevation to be synthesized is set to 30 minutes,
which is supposed to be accurate enough to get sufficient statistics like wave height and
mean period. Hence, in total, 450 wave components will be generated at the entrance of
the computational domain.
Please be careful in choosing the cycle period. The larger this period the more wave com-
ponents will be involved at the wavemaker boundary. Based on these components, SWASH
will synthesize time series for the orbital velocities in each grid point and each vertical layer
along the boundary. That would enhance the computing time a lot.
When imposing a spectrum at the boundary, one has to realize that some so-called evanes-
cent modes might be included as well. These modes show exponential decay with distance
from the boundary at which the spectrum is imposed. As such, they can not be ”seen” by
the model. Evanescent waves are a general property of the underlying model equations.
The frequency at which the evanescent modes are generated is the cut-off frequency and is
determined by the dispersive properties of the model equations. It is given by
g
r
ωcf = 2 K
d
with K the number of layers used in the model. Hence, the lowest wave period to be
considered in the model simulation equals 2π/ωcf . So, given the depth at the boundary
and the number of layers used, the cut-off frequency is determined above which the evan-
escent waves are generated at the wavemaker boundary where the spectrum is imposed;
Table 5.3: Cut-off frequency (in Hz) as function of still water depth (in m) and number of
layers.
d (m) K=1 K=2 K=3
1 1.00 1.99 2.99
5 0.45 0.89 1.34
10 0.32 0.63 0.95
15 0.26 0.51 0.77
20 0.22 0.45 0.67
25 0.20 0.40 0.60
30 0.18 0.36 0.55
35 0.17 0.34 0.51
40 0.16 0.32 0.47
45 0.15 0.30 0.45
50 0.14 0.28 0.42
100 0.10 0.20 0.30
see Table 5.3.
These evanescent modes will be removed by SWASH. Note that these modes carry a little
bit energy and thus negligible. SWASH will give a warning when at least 10% of the total
wave components are the evanescent modes that have been removed. If there are too much
evanescent modes on the boundary, i.e. these modes together contain a significant amount
of energy of the wave spectrum, the user is advised either to enlarge the number of layers
(see also Table 5.2) or to truncate the imposed spectrum (e.g. SWAN spectrum), i.e. the
highest frequency of the spectrum is not larger than the given cut-off frequency.
In the above example, one layer (K = 1) has been chosen. We assume that along the
wavemaker boundary we have a uniform depth of 20 m. So the cut-off frequency is 0.22
Hz (see Table 5.3; the lowest wave period is thus 4.5 s). However, the highest frequency
is 0.3 Hz. So there are 144 evanescent modes on the boundary, which is about 30%, thus
reasonably. They will be removed from the boundary.
For high waves, sub and super harmonics are generated due to nonlinearity. These waves
are called bound waves as they are attached to the primary wave and travel at its phase
speed instead of that of a free wave at the same frequency. If linear wave conditions are
enforced at the boundaries, the model will generate free components with the same mag-
nitude but 180o out of phase with the bound waves at the wavemaker in order to satisfy
the linear wave boundary condition. The presence of bound and free waves that travel at
different speeds will lead to a spatially nonhomogeneous wave field with the wave height
changing continuously over the domain.
For such a case, it is recommended to add bound waves at the wavemaker boundaries (see
112 Chapter 5
command BOUnd ... ADDBoundwave ...). These components are determined by the
weakly nonlinear, second order, finite-depth wave theory of Hasselmann (1962). Herein
the wave field is composed of first order, or primary waves that corresponds to the free
wave response, and a small second order correction that is associated with the bound waves.
This correction is derived with the assumption of weak nonlinearity. Therefore, the above
boundary condition is only valid for small wave amplitudes (a/d ≪ 1). Furthermore, the
assumption of a depth-averaged second order velocity amplitude requires kd ≪ 1. These
considerations imply that the proposed boundary condition cannot be used in the surf zone
(a/d ∼ 1) and in deep water (kd > 1). This is the case when the Ursell number a/d / (kd)3
exceeds 0.2. In that case, SWASH will give a warning. Nevertheless, for most practical
applications, the boundary will be located in intermediate water depths where these lim-
itations are not met. Furthermore, in deep water the second order response is small and
can − to a good approximation − be neglected. In such case, a boundary condition based
on linear wave theory is likely sufficient.
To simulate entering waves without some reflections at the wavemaker boundary, a weakly
reflective condition allowing outgoing waves must be adopted (command BTYPE WEAK).
This type of radiation condition has been shown to lead to good results within the surf
zone.
Waves propagating out of the computational domain are absorbed by means of a sponge
layer placed behind an output boundary. It is recommended to take the width of the
sponge layer at least 3 times the typical wave length. However, for long waves a Sommer-
feld radiation condition might be a good alternative.
When no boundary conditions are specified at a boundary, this boundary is considered to

be a close one. This boundary is fully reflective. Alternatively, periodic boundary con-
ditions can be applied at two opposite boundaries. This means that wave energy leaving
at one end of the domain enters at the other side. In this case no reflections at these
boundaries occur. This is recommended in the case of a simulation of a field case where
longshore bottom variations are negligible. In such a case the computational domain is
made repeated in a representative direction (see command CGRID ... REPeating X|Y).
5.4 Numerical parameters

5.4.1 Duration of simulation
It is recommended to take into account both the spin up time and the duration of the time
series at the wavemaker boundary. In this way, a steady-state condition will be obtained.
We assume that the spin up time takes at most 10 to 15% of the total time of the simulation.
For a suitable simulation time at least 500 to 1000 waves are needed.
In the above example the cycle period equals 30 minutes, which is supposed to be at least
85% of the total simulation time. So, the duration of the intended simulation would be 35
minutes, or more safely, 40 minutes.
5.4.2 Time step

The time integration is of explicit type and thus requires strict confirmity of stability
criteria for a stable solution. The well-known CFL condition for 1D problems is given by
√
∆t gd + |u|
Cr = ≤1 (5.1)
∆x
with ∆x the mesh width, ∆t the time step, u the flow velocity, and Cr the Courant number.
For a 2D problem, however, the following CFL condition is employed
q √ s
1 1
Cr = ∆t gd + u2 + v2 2
+ ≤1
∆x ∆y 2
A dynamically adjusted time step controlled by the Courant number in a user prescribed
range is implemented in SWASH as follows. The actual maximum of the Courant number
over all wet grid points is determined. The time step is halved when this number becomes
larger than a preset constant Crmax < 1, and the time step is doubled when this number
is smaller than another constant Crmin , which is small enough to be sure the time step
can be doubled. Usually, Crmin is set to 0.2, while the maximum Courant number Crmax
is specified in the range of 0.5 to 0.8. It is advised not to choose a value higher than 0.8
since nonlinear processes, e.g. wave breaking and wave-wave interactions, can affect the
stability condition. For high, nonlinear waves, or wave interaction with structures with
steep slopes (e.g. jetties, quays), a Courant number of 0.5 is advised.
5.4.3 Vertical pressure gradient

Space discretization of the governing equations is carried out in a finite volume/finite dif-
ference fashion. A staggered grid arrangement is used in which the velocity components
are located at the center of the cell faces (see Figure 5.2). The water level is located at
cell center. Concerning the non-hydrostatic pressure, two layouts to assign this unknown
to grid points are employed. This variable can be given either at the cell center or at the
layer interface. The former is called the standard layout, while the latter one is called the
box layout; see Figure 5.2.
The choice depends on the discretization of the vertical pressure gradient, namely, explicit
central differences referring as the classical case and the implicit Keller-box or compact
scheme, respectively. This compact scheme allows straightforward implementation of the
zero pressure boundary condition at the free surface without the need for special attention
at interior points near that surface. Moreover, the discretization error is four to six times
smaller than the error of classical central differences of the same order and involving the
114 Chapter 5
w w
k−1/2 k−1/2
q
k
q u k u
k+1/2 k+1/2
i−1/2 i i+1/2 i−1/2 i i+1/2

z z
x x
(a) (b)
Figure 5.2: Applied arrangements of the unknowns in a staggered grid: (a) standard layout
and (b) box layout. Meaning of the unknowns: u is the horizontal velocity, w is the vertical
velocity and q is the non-hydrostatic pressure.
same number of vertical grid points. Hence, use of the compact scheme allows a very
few number of vertical grid points with relative low numerical dispersion and dissipation,
thereby enhancing the accuracy of the frequency dispersion for relative short waves up to
an acceptable level, see Table 5.1.
At very low vertical resolution (one or two layers), the Keller-box scheme gives good dis-
persive properties. At high vertical resolutions, however, the standard layout is preferable
because it appears to be more robust while its dispersion characteristics are then usually
sufficiently accurate.
To summarize, for wave simulations with 5 layers or less, the Keller-box scheme using
the box layout is recommended, while for simulations with typically 10−20 layers, the
classical central differencing employing the standard layout is preferred. See command
NONHYDrostatic STANdard|BOX.
Related to this choice, it might be useful to specify the preconditioner for solving the Pois-
son pressure equation. Two options are available: ILU and ILUD. For a robust solution,
the ILU preconditioner is preferred. This choice might be a good one for applications
where high and short waves are involved, or irregular beds with steep slopes (e.g. weir,
breakwater, quay, jetty), or when relatively large number of layers (> 30) are involved. On
the other hand, the ILUD preconditioner is a better choice to get an efficient solution (e.g.
parallel computing). See command NONHYDrostatic ... PREConditioner ILUD|ILU.
5.4.4 Momentum conservation

For simulation of breaking waves, hydraulic jumps and bores, momentum must be con-
served. Preference should then be given to a numerical method that conserves momentum,
which ensures that the wave properties under breaking waves are modelled correctly. See
command DISCRET UPW MOM.
5.4.5 Discretization of advection terms in the momentum equa-

tions
We make a distinction between horizontal and vertical advection terms of the momentum
equations. Moreover, we consider the momentum equations separately, i.e. the u−momentum
equation and the w−momentum equation. Note that the v−momentum equation will be
treated as the u−momentum equation in exactly the same way. So, we have four different
commands:
• DISCRET UPW UMOM ... H
• DISCRET UPW WMOM H
• DISCRET UPW UMOM ... V
• DISCRET UPW WMOM V

Below, they will be outlined, respectively.
Horizontal advection terms of u−momentum equation
We consider terms like

∂u ∂u
u and v
∂x ∂y
There are many schemes to approximate these terms. Some of these schemes are accurate
but are prone to generate wiggles − typically central schemes. Other schemes generate
a certain amount of numerical diffusion and thus may affect the wave amplitude or wave
energy of particularly short waves − typically upwind schemes. Higher order upwind
schemes still generate small wiggles. If this is not desired, a flux-limiting scheme may be
employed instead. Upwind schemes are known to be more stable than central schemes.
The default scheme for the considered terms is the well-known second order BDF scheme
(or sometimes called the LUDS scheme). For many applications this is a good choice.
However, in some cases central differences (CDS) are preferred. This is especially the case
when the higher harmonics are involved or when wave breaking is present (the amount of
dissipation of higher harmonics is then important). Note that when the command BREAK is
employed, SWASH will automatically apply central differences to the horizontal advection
terms. If, for some reason, SWASH becomes unstable, possibly due to the growth of
wiggles, the user is then advised to use the BDF scheme.
116 Chapter 5
Other higher upwind schemes (e.g. QUICK) may be used as well, but we did not experience
much differences compared to the BDF scheme. In any case, never apply the first order
upwind scheme to any horizontal advection term, which is usually too numerically diffusive.
Horizontal advection terms of w−momentum equation
The horizontal advection terms of the w−momentum equation are given by

∂w ∂w
u +v
∂x ∂y
These terms are usually ignored. For some applications they are negligible small compared
to the vertical pressure gradient. However, they will be automatically taken into account
in the simulation for
• applications where vertical flow structures are present (the standard layout for non-
hydrostatic pressure is employed), or
• applications when wave breaking is important (command BREAK is employed).
If they are included, then the second order BDF scheme will be employed. Sometimes,
central differences may be preferred, for instance, when the higher harmonics are involved.
Vertical advection term of u−momentum equation
The vertical advection term of the u−momentum equation reads

∂u
w
∂z
This term is only included in the computation when more than one layer is chosen (K > 1).
The default scheme for this advection term is the first order upwind scheme. In most cases,
it will not affect the accuracy and it is robust. Especially when there are not so many
vertical layers (2 or 3), this scheme is preferable. If, for instance, many layers are involved
or the higher harmonics are present, then central differences might be a better choice.
Vertical advection term of w−momentum equation
This term is given by

∂w
w
∂z
and is usually ignored (even when K > 1). It will be included automatically if
• the vertical flow structure is present (the standard layout for non-hydrostatic pressure
is employed), or
• the vertical hyperbolic cosine profile for orbital velocities at the boundary is imposed.
This term is by default approximated with the first order upwind scheme. The user is
advised not to alter this.
5.4.6 Moving shorelines

For the calculation of wave runup and rundown on the beach, use of a moving boundary
condition is required. The method used in SWASH to track the moving shoreline amounts
to ensure non-negative water depths. For a one-dimensional case, one can show that if
|u|∆t
≤1
∆x
and if a first order upwind scheme is applied to the global continuity equation, we shall
have non-negative water depths at every time step; see Stelling and Duinmeijer (2003)
for a proof. Hence, flooding never happens faster than one grid size per time step, which
is physically correct. This implies that the calculation of the dry areas does not need
any special feature. For this reason, no complicated drying and flooding procedures are
required. Additionally, the shoreline motion in the swash zone can be simulated in a
natural manner.
For computational efficiency, the model equations are not solved and the velocities are set
to zero when the water depth is below a threshold value (see command SET DEPMIN). Its
default value is 0.05 mm. However, a higher threshold value may be chosen for scaling
reasons. For instance, at the scale of a field site, a value of 1 mm is an appropriate choice.
(As a matter of fact, the value of 0.05 mm is a suitable one under laboratory conditions.)
This will also relax the time step to some extent in case of explicit time stepping. For
a large-scale ocean simulation, a threshold value of 1 cm is probably more effective than
0.05 mm. Be careful when choosing a too high value as this may negatively influence mass
conservation.
To achieve second order accuracy, the so-called MUSCL limiter may be employed (see
command DISCRET CORRDEP).
Since the CFL condition, Eq. (5.1), holds this implies that ensuring non-negative water
depths does not lead to a new time step restriction.
For some two-dimensional cases, however, ensuring non-negative water depths might lead to
a time step restriction which appears to be more restrictive than the usual CFL condition.
An example is the case where locally all velocities are directed outward of a grid cell.
Nevertheless, such a case is rarely encountered and usually the time step is restricted by
the Courant number based on the stability criterion.
5.5 Physical parameters

5.5.1 Depth-induced wave breaking
Neither Boussinesq-type wave models nor non-hydrostatic wave-flow models can be dir-
ectly applied to details of breaking waves, since in both models essential processes such
118 Chapter 5
as overturning, air-entrainment and wave generated turbulence, are absent. But, if only
the macro-scale effects of wave breaking are of interest, such as the effect on the statistics
of wave heights, details of the breaking process can be ignored. By observing that both
spilling and plunging breakers eventually evolve into a quasi-steady bore, where the entire
front-face of the wave is turbulent, a breaking wave becomes analogous to a hydraulic jump.
Consequently, its integral properties (rate of energy dissipation, jump height) are approx-
imately captured by regarding the breaking wave as a discontinuity in the flow variables
(free surface, velocities). Proper treatment of such a discontinuity in a non-hydrostatic
model (conservation of mass and momentum) can therefore be used to determine the en-
ergy dissipation of waves in the surf zone; see Section 5.4.4.
Though a vertical coarse resolution (1−3 layers) is sufficient to describe the wave physics
outside the surf zone (e.g. refraction, shoaling, diffraction, nonlinear wave-wave interac-
tions), dissipation due to wave breaking requires a disproportional high vertical resolution
(∼10−20). A coarse resolution will result in an underestimation of the horizontal velocit-
ies near the wave crest, and thus an underestimation of the amplitude dispersion. This
underestimation implies that at low vertical resolution the influence of the non-hydrostatic
pressure gradient is overestimated. Consequently, the stabilizing dispersive effects (i.e. the
non-hydrostatic pressures) postpone the transition into the characteristic saw-tooth shape
and therefore also the onset of dissipation.
By enforcing a hydrostatic pressure distribution at the front of a wave, we can locally

reduce a non-hydrostatic wave-flow model to the nonlinear shallow water equations. The
wave then rapidly transitions into the characteristic saw-tooth shape and, consistent with
the high resolution approach, dissipation is captured by ensuring momentum conservation
over the resulting discontinuity.
The subsequent dissipation is well described by assuming depth uniform velocities and
a hydrostatic pressure distribution. In fact, these assumptions often form the basis to
derive dissipation formulations to account for depth-induced breaking in energy balance
type models, e.g. Battjes and Janssen (1978) among many others. Hence, prescribing a
hydrostatic pressure distribution in the model around the discontinuity should result in
the correct bulk dissipation.
There is no need to assume a hydrostatic pressure distribution if the vertical resolution is

sufficient (i.e. 10 to 20 layers). However, imposing a hydrostatic distribution resolutions at
low resolutions (1−3 layers) will ensure that, due the absence of dispersive effects, the front
quickly transitions into a bore like shape. Hence, it can be used to initiate the onset of
wave breaking, thus allowing for the use of low-vertical resolutions throughout the domain.
In practice this means that once a grid point is in the front of a breaking wave, vertical
accelerations are no longer resolved, and the non-hydrostatic pressure is set to zero.
A grid point is therefore labelled for hydrostatic computation if the√

local surface steepness
∂ζ/∂x exceeds a predetermined value α. Equivalenty, ∂ζ/∂t > α gd. Once labelled, a
point only becomes non-hydrostatic again if the crest of the wave has passed. This is
assumed to occur when ∂ζ/∂t < 0. Furthermore, because grid points only become active
again when the crest passes (where w ≈ 0), vertical velocities w are set to zero on the front.
To represent persistence of wave breaking, we locally reduce the criterion α to β if a neigh-
bouring grid point (in x− or y−direction) has been labelled for hydrostatic computation. √
In this case a point is thus also labelled for hydrostatic computation if ∂ζ/∂t > β gd,
with β < α. In all other grid points, the computations are non-hydrostatic. Based on
calibration, the default value for the maximum steepness parameter α is 0.6, while the
persistence parameter β is set to 0.3.
To summarize, in case of a few layers (1−3) we must apply the command BREAK with op-
tionally different values for α and β. In case of a sufficient number of layers (>10) nothing
needs to be specified with respect to wave breaking.
5.5.2 Subgrid turbulent mixing

In case of the lateral mixing of momentum, e.g. around the tips of breakwaters and dams,
it is recommended to employ the well-known Smagorinsky subgrid model in which the
mixing length is assumed to be proportional to the typical grid spacing. The default value
for the Smagorinsky constant is 0.2.
5.5.3 Vertical turbulent mixing

If the user is interested in the vertical flow structure, it is advised to apply the standard k−ε
turbulence model in order to take into account the vertical mixing. For stability reason, a
background viscosity of 0.0001 m2 /s is recommended (see command SET [backvisc]).
5.5.4 Bottom friction

When waves are travelling over a relatively long distance of order of several kilometres,
the influence of bottom friction becomes more pronounced. Moreover, it may affect long
waves close to the shoreline, e.g. infragravity waves, and nearshore circulations. For wave
simulations, a Manning coefficient of 0.019 is recommended.
5.6 Output quantities, locations and formats

SWASH calculates the time-dependent evolution of the surface elevation, velocities (both
horizontal and vertical), pressure and possibly some turbulence quantities. It would re-
quire an excessive amount of disk space to the store these quantities at every grid point
for every time step. Therefore, the user has to make some decisions on what need to be
outputted by SWASH. One can make some tables of time series of surface elevation, velo-
cities, discharges, pressures, turbulent kinetic energy, etc. or time-averaged velocities and
turbulence quantities or wave height and wave-induced setup at specified location points.
120 Chapter 5
Alternatively, one may also output several quantities over the entire domain or a part of
the domain at certain times (”snapshots”). They are stored as blocks in the Matlab binary
files. Note that the corresponding file size is limited to 8 GB.
The user must determine the time duration over which the wave parameters, e.g. wave
height and setup, mean current or mean turbulence quantities are computed; see command
QUANT. This corresponds to the final stage of the simulation period, which should be long
enough to establish steady-state conditions. This time duration, which should be long
enough to provide statistically reliable data, equals the duration of the simulation minus
the spin up time of the simulation; see Section 5.4.1.
5.7 The importance of parallel computing

Suppose one wants to simulate a harbour with a typical domain size of 2 × 2 km2 with
SWASH. In addition, we assume the following typical values:
• an offshore water depth of 20 m,
• an offshore wave height of 1.5 m,
• a wave peak period of 8 s, and
• a simulation period of 60 minutes to get reliable wave statistics.

According to the dispersion relation, kd = 1.4 or the wave length of the primary wave is
about 90 m. We choose a grid size of 2 m, being 1/45 of the wave length. Requiring a wave
Courant number of at most 0.5, the associated time step is 0.03 s. To take into account
the higher harmonics in the simulation accurately, two layers will be chosen (see Table 5.2;
the minimum wave period is 3.2 s, which is 2.5 times smaller than the peak period of 8
s). On a present-day computer (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 processor) SWASH requires about 6
µs per grid point and per time step for a two-layer simulation. So, the simulation of our
harbour takes about 17 days on a single processor to complete the run of 60 minutes real
time. This clearly shows the need for parallel computing.
Different parallelization strategies can be considered of which the most popular are:
• data parallel programming,
• shared memory programming, and
• message passing.
Data parallel programming uses automatic parallelizing compilers which enables loop-level
parallelization. Generally, this approach often will not yield high efficiency. The main
reason for this is that a large portion of the existing code is in most cases inherently se-
quential.
On shared memory platforms with all processors using a single memory, parallelization is
usually done by multithreading with the help of OpenMP compiler directives. A drawback
of this approach is that forcing good parallel performance limits the number of processors
only to about 16.
Obtaining good scalability for relatively large number of processors is usually achieved
through distributed memory parallel machines with each processor having its own private
memory. A popular example of distributed memory architecture is a cluster of Linux PCs
connected via fast networks, since it is very powerful, relatively cheap and nearly available
to all end-users. The conventional methodology for parallelization on distributed comput-
ing systems is domain decomposition, which not only achieves benefit from carrying out
the task simultaneously on many processors but also enables a large amount of memory re-
quired. It gives efficient parallel algorithms and is easy to program within message passing
environment such as MPICH2.
A parallel version of SWASH with the distributed memory parallelization paradigm us-
ing MPI standard has been developed. The message passings are implemented by a high
level communication library MPICH2. Only simple point-to-point and collective commu-
nications have been employed. No other libraries or software are required. For a full
three-dimensional simulation with a high resolution we expect a good scalable perform-
ance.
Refer to the example above, numerical computations have been carried out for the full sim-
ulation period of our harbour on 1 through 32 computational cores of our Linux cluster.
The results show a super linear speedup of up to a factor 8.6 on 8 cores, but then it levels
off to a factor of 26 on 32 cores. As such, the computing time has been reduced to 15 hours
per 60 minutes to be simulated.
122 Chapter 5
Appendix A
Definitions of variables
In SWASH a number of variables are used in input and output. The definitions of these
variables are mostly conventional.
Hs Significant wave height, in meters, defined as
qR
Hs = 4 E(f )df
where E(f ) is the variance density spectrum and f is the frequency.
With respect to output, this quantity is computed as four times the

standard deviation of the surface elevation over the duration [dur]
(see command QUANTITY) in the final stage of the simulation, which
should be long enough to provide statistically reliable wave height.
The simulation period should therefore be long enough to establish
steady-state conditions.
Hrms RMS wave height, in meters, defined as
1
√
Hrms = 2
2Hs
Tp Peak period, in seconds, defined as inverse of the frequency at which

the variance density spectrum is a maximum.
Tm01 Mean wave period, in seconds, defined as
R
E(f )df
Tm01 = R
f E(f )df
Directional spread The directional distribution of incident wave energy is given by

D(θ) = A cosm (θ) for all frequencies. The power m is related to
the one-sided directional spread as given in Table A.1.
123
124 Appendix A
Cr Courant number defined as follows:

√ √ q
1 1
Cr = ∆t gd + u2 + v 2 ∆x2
+ ∆y 2
with ∆t the time step, ∆x and ∆y the grid sizes in x− and y−direction,
respectively, and u and v the velocity components in x− and y−direction.
VEL Current velocity components in x− and y−direction of the problem

coordinate system, except in the case of output with BLOCK command in
combination with command FRAME, where x and y relate to the x−axis
and y−axis of the output frame.
MVEL Mean or time-averaged velocity components in x− and y−direction of

the problem coordinate system, except in the case of output with BLOCK
command in combination with command FRAME, where x and y relate
to the x−axis and y−axis of the output frame. Time-averaging is carried
out over the duration [dur] (see command QUANTITY) in the final stage
of the simulation.
WIND Wind velocity components in x− and y−direction of the problem

coordinate sytem, except in the case of output with BLOCK command in
combination with command FRAME, where x and y relate to the x−axis
and y−axis of the output frame.
TIME Full date-time string.
TSEC Time in seconds with respect to a reference time (see command QUANTITY).
Cartesian convention The direction is the angle between the vector and the positive x−axis,
measured counterclockwise. In other words: the direction where the
waves are going to or where the wind is blowing to.
Nautical convention The direction of the vector from geographic North measured
clockwise. In other words: the direction where the waves are coming
from or where the wind is blowing from.
Definitions of variables 125
Table A.1: Directional distribution.

m directional spread (in o )
1. 37.5
2. 31.5
3. 27.6
4. 24.9
5. 22.9
6. 21.2
7. 19.9
8. 18.8
9. 17.9
10. 17.1
15. 14.2
20. 12.4
30. 10.2
40. 8.9
50. 8.0
60. 7.3
70. 6.8
80. 6.4
90. 6.0
100. 5.7
200. 4.0
400. 2.9
800. 2.0
126 Appendix A
Appendix B
Command syntax
B.1 Commands and command schemes

The actual commands of the user to SWASH must be given in one file containing all
commands. This file is called the command file. It must be presented to SWASH in
ASCII. It is important to make a distinction between the description of the commands in
this User Manual and the actual commands in the command file. The descriptions of the
commands in this User Manual are called command schemes. Each such command scheme
includes a diagram and a description explaining the structure of the command and the
meaning of the keyword(s) and of the data in the command. The proper sequence of the
commands is given in Section 4.2.
B.2 Command
B.2.1 Keywords
Each command instructs SWASH to carry out a certain action which SWASH executes
before it reads the next command. A command must always start with a keyword (which
is also the name of the command) which indicates the primary function of that command;
see list in Section 4.1). A simple command may appear in its command scheme as:
KEYword data
A command may contain more than one keyword (which refines the instructions to SWASH),
e.g.,
KEY1word KEY2word data
where KEY2word is the second keyword.
127
128 Appendix B
Spelling of keywords
In every command scheme, keywords appear as words in both lower- and upper-case letters.
When typing the command or keyword in the command file, the user must at least copy
literally the part with upper-case letters. SWASH reads only this part. SWASH is case
insensitive except for one instance (character strings), see below. When typing the keyword
in the command file, any extension of the part with upper-case letters is at the users
discretion as long as the extension is limited to letters or digits, as well as the characters −
and . So, in the first command outlined above one may write: KEY or KEYW or KEY−word
or keyhole, etc., whereas with the abovementioned second command scheme, key1 KEY2
data may appear in the command file.
In the command file
• a keyword is closed by a blank or one of the following characters = or :
• a keyword is not enclosed by square brackets or quotes,
• a keyword followed by a comma (,) is interpreted as a keyword followed by an empty

data field (see below).
Required and optional keywords

All keywords in a command are required except when an option is available.
Optional keywords are indicated in the command scheme with the following signs enclosing
the keywords concerned:
| KEY1word ...... data ....... |

< >
| KEY2word ...... data ....... |
For the above example it may appear as:
| KEY2word data |
KEY1word < >
| KEY3word data |
In case the user does not indicate an option in a command, SWASH chooses the alternative
indicated with an arrow (->) appearing in the command scheme (the default option). In
the above example, it may appear as:
| KEY2word data |
KEY1word < >
| -> KEY3word data |
where KEY3WORD is the default option.

Command syntax 129
Repetitions of keywords and/or other data

The use of keywords is sometimes repetitive, e.g. in a sequence of data and keywords
containing many locations in x, y−space. In such a case, the command scheme indicates
this repetitive nature by placing the keywords (and data) concerned between angle brackets
< >. For instance,
KEY1word <data KEY2word data>
In the actual command in the command file the user must give such a sequence. It ends
with either
• end of line
• a keyword other than the ones mentioned in the repetition group
• the character / or ;
If more than one line is required for a command, the user may continue on the next line as
described in Section B.4. The repetition may consist of one instance (in fact, no repetition
at all).
B.2.2 Data
Most commands contain data, either character data or numerical data.
Character data and numerical data

Character data (character strings) are represented in the command schemes by names,
enclosed in quotes (’ ’).
Numerical data are represented in the command schemes by names enclosed in square
brackets ([ ]).
As a rule, an error message will result if numerical data is given where character data
should be given.
Spelling of data
Character data are represented as character strings (sequence of characters and blanks)
between quotes (in the command scheme and in the command file). SWASH interprets an
end of line as an end quote (a character data field can therefore never extend over more
than one line).
In a command scheme the character string is always a name (which is placed between
quotes as indicated). In the command file such a name can be entered in two ways:
130 Appendix B
• Replace the name by another character string at the users discretion (between quotes;
this is the only occurrence where SWASH is case sensitive; e.g. for text to appear in
a plot.
Example:
command scheme: KEYword ’City’ data
command file: KEY ’Amsterdam’ data
• Copy the name of the variable (without the quotes) literally followed by an = sign
and a name at the users discretion (between quotes). SWASH interprets the copied
name in the command file as a keyword with all the characteristics of a keyword such
as ending a sequence of optional data (see below). As with other keywords the name
of the variable is case-insensitive.
Example:
command scheme: KEYword ’City’ data
command file: KEY city=’Amsterdam’ data
As a rule, an error message will result if numerical data is given where character data
should be given.
Numerical data are simple numbers, e.g. 15 or −7 (integer data), or 13.7 or 0.8E−4 (real
data). Whether or not integer number or real number should be given by the user is
indicated in the description of the command scheme.
Note that a decimal point is not permitted in an integer number. On the other hand, an
integer number is accepted by SWASH where a real number should be given.
In a command scheme, the number is always indicated with a name (which is placed
between square brackets). In the command file such a name can be entered in two ways:
• Replace the name by a number (not between square brackets).

Example:
command scheme: KEYword [nnn]
command file: KEY 314
• Copy the name of the variable (without the quotes) literally followed by an = sign
and the number (not between square brackets). SWASH interprets the copied name
in the command file as a keyword with all the characteristics of a keyword such as
ending a sequence of optional data (see below). As with other keywords the name of
the variable is case-insensitive.
Example:
command scheme: KEYword [nnn]
command file: KEY nnn=314
Command syntax 131
Required data and optional data

All data must be given by the user in the command file in the same order as they appear
in the command scheme. They are separated by blanks or comma’s.
Required data (indicated in the description of each individual command) must be given
explicitly as character string or numbers.
Optional data are indicated

(a) in the text of each individual command or
(b) for sets of data: in parenthesis around the data concerned
( data )
For example:
KEY1word KEY2word ’name’ ([nnn] [mmm]) [zzz]
or
(c) some optional data are indicate in the same way as optional keywords are indicated:
| .....data.....|
< >
| .....data.....|
Optional data of the kind (a) or (b) may be omitted by giving blanks between comma’s
(SWASH then substitutes reasonable default values). If after a required datum all data is
optional (till the next keyword or the next end-of-line), then the comma’s may be omitted
too. Optional data of the kind (c) are to be treated in the same way as optional keywords.
B.3 Command file and comments

All text after one $ or between two $ signs on one line in the command file is ignored by
SWASH as comment. Such comments may be important to the user e.g., to clarify the
meaning of the commands used. In fact, this option has been used to create the edit file
swash.edt (see Appendix C). Anything appearing after two $ signs is not interpreted as
comment, but again as data to be processed (possibly interrupted again by $ or two $
signs). Alternatively, the exclamation mark ‘!’ can be used as comment sign. Everthing
behind a ! is interpreted as comment, also if ! or $ are in that part of the input line.
132 Appendix B
B.4 End of line or continuation

A command in the command file may be continued on the next line if the previous line
terminates with a continuation mark & or (underscore).
Appendix C
File swash.edt
Below the file swash.edt is presented in which all the commands that can be used with
SWASH are specified.
! PROJECT ’name’ ’nr’

! ’title1’
! ’title2’
! ’title3’
!
! SET [level] [nor] [depmin] [maxmes] [maxerr] [seed] &
! [grav] [rhowat] [temp] [salinity] [dynvis] [rhoair] [rhosed] &
! [cdcap] [prmean] [backvisc] [kappa] &
! CORIolis CARTesian|NAUTical CC &
! [printf] [prtest] [outlev]
!
! MODE DYNamic / -> TWODimensional \ (SKIPMOMentum)
! \ ONEDimensional /
!
! COORDinates / -> CARTesian
! \ SPHErical CCM|QC
!
! | REGular [xpc] [ypc] [alpc] [xlenc] [ylenc] [mxc] [myc] |
! CGRID < CURVilinear [mxc] [myc] (EXC [xexc] [yexc]) > &
! | UNSTRUCtured |
!
! REPeating X|Y
!
! VERTical [kmax] < [thickness] M|PERC >
!
! INPgrid BOT|WLEV|CUR|VX|VY|FRic|WInd|WX|WY|PRessure|POROS|PSIZ|HSTRUC| &
133
134 Appendix C
! NPLAnts|FLOAT|SALinity|TEMPerature|SEDiment &
!
! | REG [xpinp] [ypinp] [alpinp] [mxinp] [myinp] [dxinp] [dyinp] |
! | |
! < CURVilinear STAGgered > &
! | |
! | UNSTRUCtured |
!
! (EXCeption [excval]) &
!
! (NONSTATionary [tbeginp] [deltinp] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY [tendinp]) &
!
! (NONUNIForm [kmax])
!
! READgrid UNSTRUCtured / -> TRIAngle \
! \ EASYmesh / ’fname’
!
! READinp BOTtom|WLEVel|CURrent|FRic|WInd|PRessure|COOR|POROS|PSIZ|HSTRUC| &
! NPLAnts|FLOAT|SALinity|TEMPerature|SEDiment &
!
! | ’fname1’ |
! [fac] < SERIes ’fname2’ > [idla] [nhedf] ([nhedt]) (nhedvec]) &
! | LAYers ’fname3’ |
!
! FREE | FORMAT ’form’ | [idfm] | UNFORMATTED
!
! | -> CONstant [wlev] [vx] [vy] [tke] [epsilon]
! |
! INITial < ZERO
! |
! | STEAdy
!
!
! | PM |
! BOUnd SHAPespec < -> JONswap [gamma] > SIG|RMS PEAK|MEAN DSPR POW|DEGR
! | TMA |
!
! / -> SIDE N|NW|W|SW|S|SE|E|NE | [k] CCW|CLOCKWise \
! BOUndcond < > &
! \ SEGment / -> XY < [x] [y] > \ /
! \ IJ < [i] [j] > | < [k] > /
!
! BTYPe WLEV|VEL|DISCH|RIEMann|LRIEmann|WEAKrefl|SOMMerfeld|OUTFlow &
File swash.edt 135
!
! LAYer [k] | HYPerbolic | LOGarithmic &
!
! SMOOthing [period] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY &
!
! ADDBoundwave &
!
! | FOURier [azero] < [ampl] [omega] [phase] >
! | REGular [h] [per] [dir]
! | UNIForm < SPECTrum [h] [per] [dir] [dd] [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
! | | SERIes ’fname’ [itmopt]
! | | SPECFile ’fname’ [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
! < &
! | | FOURier < [len] [azero] < [ampl] [omega] [phase] > >
! | | REGular < [len] [h] [per] [dir] >
! | | SPECTrum < [len] [h] [per] [dir] [dd] [cycle] S|MI|HR|DA >
! | VARiable < SERIes < [len] ’fname’ [itmopt] >
! | SPECFile < [len] ’fname’ [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY >
! | SPECSwan ’fname’ [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
!
!
! SOURce X|Y | [k] [centre] [width] [depth] [delta] &
!
! / REGular [h] [per] [dir] \
! \ SPECTrum [h] [per] [dir] [dd] [cycle] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY / &
!
! SMOOthing [period] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY
!
!
! SPONgelayer LEft|RIght|LOwer|UPper [width] | < [k] [width] >
!
!
! FLOAT [alpha] [theta]
!
!
! | -> CONstant [cd] |
! | |
! | CHARNock [beta] [height] |
! | |
! | LINear [a1] [a2] [b] [wlow] [whigh] |
! | |
! | WU | | REL [alpha]
! WIND [vel] [dir] < > <
136 Appendix C
! | GARRatt | | RELW [crest]

! | |
! | SMIthbanke |
! | |
! | CHEn |
! | |
! | FIT |
!
!
! | LINear [k]
! |
! | CONstant [cf]
! |
! | CHEZy [cf]
! |
! FRICtion < -> MANNing [cf]
! |
! | COLEbrook [h]
! |
! | | -> SMOOTH
! | LOGlaw <
! | ROUGHness [h]
!
!
!
! | -> CONstant [visc]
! |
! | -> Horizontal < SMAGorinsky [cs]
! | |
! | | MIXing [lm]
! |
! |
! VISCosity < Vertical KEPS [cfk] [cfe]
! |
! |
! | | -> LINear
! | FULL KEPS <
! | | NONLinear
!
!
!
! POROsity [size] [height] [alpha0] [beta0] [wper]
!
File swash.edt 137
!
! VEGEtation < [height] [diamtr] [nstems] [drag] > MASS [cm] POROsity Vertical
!
!
! | -> Sec | | -> NONCohesive [size] |
! TRANSP [diff] [retur] < MIn > < > &
! | HR | | COHesive [tauce] [taucd] [erate] |
! | DAy |
!
! [fall] [snum] [ak] DENSity Y|N [alfa] [crsn] [cp] [ek] &
!
! ANTICreep STAndard|SVK|None
!
!
! BREaking [alpha] [beta] [nufac]
!
!
! | STAndard |
! | |
! NONHYDrostatic < -> BOX > [theta] &
! | |
! | DEPthaveraged |
!
! SUBGrid [pmax] REDuced [qlay] &
!
! SOLVer [rhsaccur] [initaccur] [maxiter] [relax] [precfq] &
!
! PREConditioner ILUDS|ILUD|ILU|NONE &
!
! PROJection ITERative [tol] [maxiter]
!
!
! | | UMOM MOMentum|HEAD / -> Horizontal |
! | | \ Vertical |
! | UPWind < |
! | | WMOM / -> Horizontal |
! | | \ Vertical |
! | |
! DISCRETization < CORRdep > &
! | |
! | TRANSPort / -> Horizontal |
! | \ Vertical |
! | |
138 Appendix C
! | MIMEtic |
!
!
! | NONe |
! | |
! | FIRstorder |
! | |
! | HIGherorder [kappa] |
! | |
! | | -> SWEBy [phi] |
! | | |
! | LIMiter < RKAPpa [kappa] |
! | | |
! | | PLKAPpa [kappa] [mbound] |
! | FROmm |
! | |
! | -> BDF | LUDs |
! | |
! < QUIck >
! | |
! | CUI |
! | |
! | MINMod |
! | |
! | SUPerbee |
! | |
! | VANLeer |
! | |
! | MUScl |
! | |
! | KORen |
! | |
! | SMArt |
!
!
! DPSopt MIN|MEAN|MAX|SHIFt
!
!
! | -> EXPL [cfllow] [cflhig] |
! | |
! TIMEI METH < IMPL [thetac] [thetas] & > &
! | |
! | SOLVer [tol] [maxiter] [weight] NEWTon |
File swash.edt 139
!
! VERTical [thetau] [thetaw] [thetat]
!
!
! FRAME ’sname’ [xpfr] [ypfr] [alpfr] [xlenfr] [ylenfr] [mxfr] [myfr]
!
! GROUP ’sname’ SUBGRID [ix1] [ix2] [iy1] [iy2]
!
! CURVE ’sname’ [xp1] [yp1] < [int] [xp] [yp] >
!
! RAY ’rname’ [xp1] [yp1] [xq1] [yq1] &
! < [int] [xp] [yp] [xq] [yq] >
!
! ISOLINE ’sname’ ’rname’ DEPTH|BOTTOM [dep]
!
! POINTS ’sname’ < [xp] [yp] > | FILE ’fname’
!
!
! |...|
! QUANTity < > ’short’ ’long’ [lexp] [hexp] [excv] [ref] &
! |...|
!
! [dur] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY [depth] [delrp] &
!
! [xcom] [ycom] [zcom] [alpobj] &
!
! / -> PROBLEMcoord \
! \ FRAME /
!
! OUTPut OPTions ’comment’ (TABle [field]) (BLOck [ndec] [len])
!
! BLOCK ’sname’ HEAD | NOHEAD ’fname’ (LAY-OUT [idla]) &
! < TSEC|XP|YP|DEP|BOTL|WATL|DRAF|VMAG|VDIR|VEL|VKSI|VETA| &
! PRESS|NHPRES|QMAG|QDIR|DISCH|QKSI|QETA|VORT|WMAG|WDIR|WIND| &
! FRC|USTAR|UFRIC|HRUN|BRKP|ZK|HK|VMAGK|VDIRK|VELK|VKSIK| &
! VETAK|VZ|VOMEGA|QMAGK|QDIRK|DISCHK|QKSIK|QETAK|PRESSK| &
! NHPRSK|TKE|EPS|VISC|HS|HRMS|SETUP|MVMAG|MVDIR|MVEL|MVKSI| &
! MVETA|MVMAGK|MVDIRK|MVELK|MVKSIK|MVETAK|MTKE|MEPS|MVISC| &
! SAL|TEMP|SED|MSAL|MTEMP|MSED|SALK|TEMPK|SEDK|MSALK|MTEMPK| &
! MSEDK [unit] > &
! (OUTPUT [tbegblk] [deltblk] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY)
!
! TABLE ’sname’ HEAD | NOHEAD | STAB | SWASH | IND ’fname’ &
140 Appendix C
! < TIME|TSEC|XP|YP|DIST|DEP|BOTL|WATL|DRAF|VMAG|VDIR|VEL|VKSI|VETA| &

! PRESS|NHPRES|QMAG|QDIR|DISCH|QKSI|QETA|VORT|WMAG|WDIR|WIND|FRC| &
! USTAR|UFRIC|HRUN|BRKP|ZK|HK|VMAGK|VDIRK|VELK|VKSIK|VETAK|VZ| &
! VOMEGA|QMAGK|QDIRK|DISCHK|QKSIK|QETAK|PRESSK|NHPRSK|TKE|EPS| &
! VISC|HS|HRMS|SETUP|MVMAG|MVDIR|MVEL|MVKSI|MVETA|MVMAGK|MVDIRK| &
! MVELK|MVKSIK|MVETAK|MTKE|MEPS|MVISC|SAL|TEMP|SED|MSAL|MTEMP| &
! MSED|SALK|TEMPK|SEDK|MSALK|MTEMPK|MSEDK|FORCEX|FORCEY|FORCEZ| &
! MOMX|MOMY|MOMZ|RUNUP > &
! (OUTPUT [tbegtbl] [delttbl] SEC|MIN|HR|DAY)
!
!
!
! / -> IJ < [i] [j] > | < [k] > \
! TEST [itest] [itrace] POINTS < > ’fname’
! \ XY < [x] [y] > /
!
!
! | -> Sec |
! COMPute [tbegc] [deltc] < MIn > [tendc]
! | HR |
! | DAy |
!
! STOP
Bibliography
[1] Smit, P., Zijlema, M. and Stelling, G., 2013. Depth-induced wave breaking in a non-
hydrostatic, near-shore wave model. Coast. Engng., 76: 1–16.
[2] Stelling, G.S. and Duinmeijer, S.P.A., 2003. A staggered conservative scheme for every
Froude number in rapidly varied shallow water flows. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids, 43:
1329–1354.
[3] Stelling, G. and Zijlema, M., 2003. An accurate and efficient finite-difference algorithm
for non-hydrostatic free-surface flow with application to wave propagation. Int. J.
Numer. Meth. Fluids, 43: 1–23.
[4] SWASH – Implementation manual. Delft University of Technology, Environmental

Fluid Mechanics Section, available from http://swash.sourceforge.net (Version 6.01,
August 2019).
[5] SWAN – Programming rules. Delft University of Technology, Environmental Fluid

Mechanics Section, available from http://www.swan.tudelft.nl (Version 1.3, August
2006).
[6] Zijlema, M., 2019. The role of the Rankine-Hugoniot relations in staggered finite dif-
ference schemes for the shallow water equations. Comput. Fluids, 192: article 104274.
[7] Zijlema, M., 2020. Computation of free surface waves in coastal waters with SWASH
on unstructured grids. Comput. Fluids, 213: article 104751.
[8] Zijlema, M. and Stelling, G.S., 2005. Further experiences with computing non-
hydrostatic free-surface flows involving water waves. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids,
48: 169–197.
[9] Zijlema, M. and Stelling, G.S., 2008. Efficient computation of surf zone waves using
the nonlinear shallow water equations with non-hydrostatic pressure. Coast. Engng.,
55: 780–790.
[10] Zijlema, M., Stelling, G. and Smit, P., 2011. SWASH: An operational public domain
code for simulating wave fields and rapidly varied flows in coastal waters. Coast.
Engng., 58: 992–1012.
141
Index
advection, 15, 76, 115, 116 104, 109
baroclinic forcing, 7, 9, 15, 60 dam, 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 22, 34, 35, 56, 63, 68,
bathymetry, 9, 13, 14, 101, 103, 104, 107, 72, 108, 119, 130
108 density, 4–8, 11–15, 26, 34, 35, 39, 50, 56,
BDF, 75, 77, 115, 116 64, 67, 68, 70, 94, 95, 123
BLOCK, 88 depth-averaged mode, 3, 8, 15, 56, 58, 59,
BOTCEL, 77 71, 72, 87, 94, 106, 112
bottom friction, 5, 7, 10–14, 16, 17, 19, 21, diffraction, 7, 107, 118
22, 24, 32–35, 38–40, 43, 48, 58–60, diffusivity, 65, 67
63, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, 77, 78, 81, 82, directional spreading, 16, 45, 49–51, 109, 123,
84, 93, 94, 98, 103, 105, 107, 108, 125
112, 119 discharge, 16, 20, 48, 60, 94, 95, 119
BOUND SHAPE, 44 DISCRETIZATION, 74
boundary condition, 1, 5, 9, 11–17, 19, 22, dispersion relation, 5–8, 67, 70, 71, 104–106,
26, 28, 31, 42–44, 46–54, 65, 68, 98, 113, 114, 118, 120
103, 104, 107–113, 116, 117
BOUNDCOND, 45 FLOAT, 54
BREAKING, 68 flux limiter, 6, 8, 15, 18, 56, 65–67, 75, 76,
115
Cartesian coordinates, 5, 10, 11, 17, 21, 26, Fourier series, 16, 26, 48, 49
27, 29, 36, 47, 49, 57, 81–85, 87, 94, FRAME, 81
95, 97, 101, 124 frequency dispersion, 5–8, 44, 49, 50, 70,
CGRID, 28 105–107, 109–111, 113, 123
Chezy formula, 39, 44, 58, 59 FRICTION, 58
circulation, 4, 5, 9, 34, 55, 70, 79, 119 Froude number, 64, 135
coastal region, 4, 7, 9, 55, 60, 62, 135
COMPUTE, 101 GROUP, 82
convergence, 72, 79
COORDINATES, 27 harbour, 4, 13, 48, 55, 60, 120, 121
Coriolis force, 4, 6, 26
Courant number, 10, 13, 18, 78, 79, 113, 117, INITIAL, 43
120, 124 INPGRID, 32
CURVE, 83 INPTRANS, 42
curvilinear grid, 5, 11–13, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29, instability, 17
31, 34, 36, 38, 39, 46, 81, 82, 103, inundation, 87, 88, 97
142
143
irregular wave breaking, 17, 48, 49, 52, 53, RAY, 83

69, 98, 109, 114 READGRID COORDINATES, 30
ISOLINE, 84 READGRID UNSTRUCTURED, 31
READINP, 37
Jonswap spectrum, 16, 107, 109, 110 READTRANS, 43
rectilinear grid, 5, 15, 28, 29, 38, 39, 49, 52,
latitude, 10, 27, 101
53, 82, 103
leapfrog scheme, 5
reflection, 7, 16, 34, 54, 62, 108, 112
logarithmic wall-law, 48, 58, 59, 67
refraction, 7, 84, 118
longitude, 10, 27, 101
repeat, 23, 29, 30, 54, 63, 110, 112
Manning formula, 39, 58, 59, 119 Riemann invariant, 16, 48
mixing length, 6, 7, 26, 60–62, 65, 67, 119 rubble mound, 34, 108
MODE, 27 runup, 3, 7, 8, 87, 88, 94, 96–99, 117
multi-layered mode, 3, 8, 32, 43, 56, 58, 59, salinity, 7, 9, 14, 26, 42, 43, 65, 75, 88, 94,
71, 72, 79 95
MUSCL limiter, 76, 77, 117 salt intrusion, 4, 6, 7, 15, 65–67
semi-implicit, 5, 79
Nautical convention, 26, 49, 57, 87, 124
SET, 25
Nikuradse roughness height, 39, 58, 59
shoaling, 7, 8, 118
NONHYDROSTATIC, 69
shoreline, 3, 6–9, 13, 117, 119
nonhydrostatic, 22
Sommerfeld radiation condition, 16, 48, 112
OUTPUT, 88 SOURCE, 52
spectrum, 12, 16, 17, 26, 44, 48–51, 53, 104,
periodic, 16, 29, 112 107, 109–111, 123
Pierson-Moskowitz, 16, 44, 109 spherical coordinates, 5, 10, 17, 21, 25, 27–
plant, 61, 63, 64 30, 36, 51, 81–85, 96, 101
POINTS, 84 sponge layer, 17, 22, 52, 54, 103, 112
POROSITY, 62 SPONGE LAYER, 53
porosity, 11–14, 19, 21, 34, 35, 39, 62–64, stationary, 11, 17, 21, 33, 34, 37, 39, 42, 51,
107, 108 65, 98
porous structure, 11, 13, 22, 34, 35, 39, 62– steepness, 69, 118, 119
64 STOP, 102
pressure, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11–15, 18–20, 22, 26, subgrid, 7, 13, 35, 70, 71, 73, 82, 83, 108,
33–35, 39, 60, 61, 69–73, 77, 82, 94, 119
95, 98, 105, 113, 114, 116, 118, 119, surface elevation, 3–7, 9, 16, 49–52, 56, 57,
135 63, 66, 67, 69, 72, 79, 82, 87, 94, 98,
PROJECT, 24 103, 108–110, 113, 118, 119, 123, 135
propagation, 5, 7, 70, 75, 77, 98, 106, 107, suspended sediment, 6–9, 14, 15, 42, 43, 65,
135 66, 68, 75, 94–96
QUANTITY, 85 TABLE, 99
temperature, 7, 14, 15, 26, 42, 43, 65, 75, 94,
radiation, 6, 16, 48, 112 95
144
TEST, 100
TIME INTEGRATION, 78
TMA spectrum, 16, 44, 109
transmission, 7, 34, 62, 108
TRANSPORT, 64
transport, 3, 7–9, 11, 14, 15, 21, 22, 42, 43,
65, 67, 68, 75, 76, 79, 80
triad, 7, 8
triangular grid, 5, 6, 9, 12, 28, 104
turbidity flow, 8, 15, 67
turbulence model, 7, 10, 22, 44, 60–62, 86,
98, 118–120
unstructured grid, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 21, 24, 28,

31, 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 42, 46, 47, 53,
54, 76, 93–95, 103, 104, 135
Van Leer limiter, 63, 66–68, 72, 76, 77

VEGETATION, 63
vegetation, 3, 7, 11–14, 22, 34, 35, 39, 61–64
VERTICAL, 31
VISCOSITY, 60
viscosity, 5, 10, 22, 26, 60–62, 65–67, 79, 95,
96, 119
water level, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9–17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 32,

34, 35, 38, 39, 44, 48, 53, 55–57, 60,
62, 65–71, 75–77, 79, 80, 84, 87, 93,
94, 97, 98, 104, 106–109, 111–114,
117–120, 135
wave breaking, 3–14, 16, 17, 22, 26, 29, 32,
44–46, 48–58, 62, 63, 68–72, 75–79,
84, 86–88, 93, 94, 98, 99, 103–120,
123, 124, 135
weakly reflective, 48, 52, 111, 112
WIND, 55
wind, 5–14, 16, 18, 19, 22, 26, 33–35, 39, 55–
57, 60, 75–77, 79, 94, 115–117, 124

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SWASH

SWASH version 8.01

by : The SWASH team

mail address : Delft University of Technology

Copyright (c) 2010-2022 Delft University of Technology.

1 About this manual 1

2 General description and instructions for use 3

3 Input and output files 19

5 Setting up your own command file 103

A Definitions of variables 123

B Command syntax 127

B.4 End of line or continuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

C File swash.edt 133

About this manual

General description and instructions

2.2 Background, features and applications

2.2.2 A bird’s-eye view of SWASH

• Because of the abovementioned pressure splitting, hydrostatic flow computation can

• In order to resolve the frequency dispersion up to an acceptable level of accuracy,

• The three-dimensional simulation of flows exposing strong vertical variation amounts

• The combined effects of wave-wave and wave-current interaction in shallow water

2.2.3 Model features and validity of SWASH

SWASH accounts for the following physical phenomena:

• wave propagation, frequency dispersion, shoaling, refraction and diffraction,

• depth-limited wave growth by wind,

• nonlinear wave-wave interactions (including surf beat and triads),

• wave runup and rundown,

• partial reflection and transmission,

• wave interaction with structures,

• wave interaction with floating objects,

• vertical turbulent mixing,

• wave damping induced by aquatic vegetation,

• rapidly varied flows,

• bores and flood waves,

• wind driven flows,

• space varying wind and atmospheric pressure,

• density driven flows,

• transport of suspended load for (non)cohesive sediment,

• turbidity flows, and

2.2.4 Relation to Boussinesq-type wave models

2.2.5 Relation to circulation and coastal flow models

2.3 Internal scenarios, shortcomings and coding bugs

• SWASH needs to be robust, and

• the problem may be only very local, or

• the problem needs to be fully computed before it can be diagnosed.

2.4 Units and coordinate systems

SWASH operates either in a Cartesian coordinate system or in a spherical coordinate

designated in this manual as the problem coordinate system.

2.5 Choice of grids and time windows

• a computational spatial grid on which SWASH performs the computations,

For one-dimensional situations, i.e. ∂/∂y ≡ 0, SWASH can be run in 1D mode.

should be either uniform, rectangular or identical to the used curvilinear computational

• one computational time window in which SWASH performs the computations,

2.5.2 Computational grid and time window

refinements (e.g. in the surf zone).

2.5.3 Input grid(s) and time window(s)

2.5.4 Input grid(s) for transport of constituents

2.5.5 Output grids

2.6 Boundary conditions

– Regular waves by means of Fourier series or time series.

• periodic boundary conditions,

• full reflection at closed boundaries or solid walls,

• Sommerfeld or radiation condition,