SW2D-GPU: A two-dimensional shallow water model accelerated by GPGPU

Shallow water models are used for simulating flood and lake hydrodynamics. However, the computational cost of those models is often high and require high performance computing. We present the SW2D-GPU: a twodimensional shallow water model accelerated by General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit. The model is implemented in parallel using CUDA C/C++. We exemplify the use of the model with two case studies: (i) Flood simulation in an urban area and (ii) water level simulation in a lake catchment. We have included potential evaporation in the formulation which expands its application to water level simulations in lakes and reservoirs. The SW2D-GPU model is approximately 34 times faster than its equivalent sequential version. The model can be run in any computer equipped with a NVIDIA GPU. Integrated simulations of surface waters in lake watershed and simulations of floods caused by dam break are some of the potential applications.

Automated summary

The study introduces a two-dimensional shallow water model SW2D-GPU accelerated by GPU, suitable for simulating flood and lake hydrodynamics. It is approximately 34 times faster than its sequential version and can run on computers equipped with NVIDIA GPU.