  A new modified Galerkin / Finite Element Method is proposed for the numerical
solution of the fully nonlinear shallow water wave equations. The new numerical
method allows the use of low-order Lagrange finite element spaces, despite the
fact that the system contains third order spatial partial derivatives for the
depth averaged velocity of the fluid. After studying the efficacy and the
conservation properties of the new numerical method, we proceed with the
validation of the new numerical model and boundary conditions by comparing the
numerical solutions with laboratory experiments and with available theoretical
asymptotic results.
