Performance of radial point interpolation method in solving kinematic wave equation for hydrologic modelling

This paper presents the solution of the kinematic wave equation using a meshless radial point interpolation method (RPIM). The partial differential equation is discretized using a Galerkin weighted residual method employing RPIM shape functions. A forward difference scheme is used for temporal discretization, while the direct substitution method is employed to solve the nonlinear system at each time step. The formulation is validated against solutions from conventional numerical techniques and physical observation. In all cases, excellent agreements are achieved and hence the validation of the proposed formulation. Optimum values of the multi-quadrics shape parameters were then determined before the assessment of the performance of the method. Based on the convergence rate, it has been shown that the proposed method performs better than the finite difference method and equivalent to the finite element method. This highlights the potential of RPIM as an alternative method for hydrologic modeling.