T-UGOm is the acronym for Toulouse Unstructured Grid Ocean model.
An unstructured grid
More precisely, T-UGOm is a hydrodynamic model in three dimensions. When models based on finite differences, such as OPA, ROMS or SYMPHONIE, use regular grids, T-UGOm uses unstructured grids, which can be accurately adapted to the particularities of the modelized area. It inherits MOG2D — Modèle aux Ondes de Gravités Internes (Intern Gravity Wave Model), a bi-dimensional ocean model, — which is T-UGOm external mode. T-UGOm is coupled with particle and sediment transport modules. Lastly, it does not use neither the hydrostatic nor the Boussinesq approximations, because it does not increase too much the computations time and improve slightly the precision of calculations.
An element
T-UGOm uses mixed elements: finite elements determine speed and elevation, when finite volumes determine heat and salinity. Under progress developments are done to allows the users to change the used schemes, in order to use the more accurate one according the special situation being considered. This imply to find finite differences, finite elements and finite volumes definitions each as similar as possible as the others. This will permit to use the same modules of the program, whatever are the chosen schemes. Also, the meshes are based on prisms, but it is possible to use others shapes.
It is one goal of the developments to make T-UGOm totally changeable, in order not to imprison the user into one choice. As a result, T-UGOm has a load of parameters and options. To ease the use of the model, default values, chosen accordingly to the classical values in literature, had been defined, and a graphic user interface is available.
