A volume-conserving ALE continuous Galerkin method with residual-based Dirichlet--Neumann fluxes for nonlinear free-surface waves

Abstract

We develop an arbitrary Lagrangian--Eulerian continuous Galerkin finite element method for two-dimensional fully nonlinear free-surface potential flow. An isoparametric finite element method computes the interior potential on the current fluid domain, while a residual-based Dirichlet--Neumann flux drives the surface evolution. The residual-based flux satisfies a global discrete balance inherited from the interior variational formulation. When combined with compatible mesh motion, surface projection, and quadrature, this balance yields conservation of the discrete fluid volume at the semi-discrete level. An optional volume-conserving sixth-order surface dissipation controls high-frequency oscillations, and the surface equations are advanced with fourth-order Runge--Kutta integration, updating the mesh and interior solution at every stage. Numerical experiments confirm the expected spatial convergence for linear free-surface waves and demonstrate reduced mesh sensitivity for nonlinear waves over flat and curved bottoms. A rotating-wavemaker example further illustrates the treatment of moving solid boundaries.