SELFE - Benchmarks

Benchmarks are one of the mechanisms used to establish the bounds of confidence for numerical codes. We identify here an assortment of test case problems that we have used or are considering using to test the circulation codes utilized by the SELFE modeling system.

Problems vary widely in complexity, objectives, and degree of user-control. Most of the problems are not Columbia River specific, and many have been developed elsewhere for reasons unrelated to SELFE.

Below are test cases that we have used or are considering using. The descriptions include a code-independent statement of the problem and a brief overview of results.

Type: Wind
Description: Classical problems with known quantitative solutions for the response of flow to wind forcing, in simple domains.
Read about the specific problem for Ekman motion

Type: Tides
Description: Analytical solutions for tidal propagation in simple domains.
Read about the specific problem for Quarter Annulus

Type: Baroclinic
Description: Unforced river plume problem.
Read about the specific problem for a River Plume


Type: Barotropic
Description: 1D inundation test.
Read about the specific problem for Inundation


Type: Baroclinic
Description: Process study on the generation of Juan de Fuca eddy under mean summer condition
Read about the specific problem for the Juan de Fuca eddy