  We present a novel staggered semi-implicit hybrid FV/FE method for the
numerical solution of the shallow water equations at all Froude numbers on
unstructured meshes. A semi-discretization in time of the conservative
Saint-Venant equations with bottom friction terms leads to its decomposition
into a first order hyperbolic subsystem containing the nonlinear convective
term and a second order wave equation for the pressure. For the spatial
discretization of the free surface elevation an unstructured mesh of triangular
simplex elements is considered, whereas a dual grid of the edge-type is
employed for the computation of the depth-averaged momentum vector. The first
stage of the proposed algorithm consists in the solution of the nonlinear
convective subsystem using an explicit Godunov-type FV method on the staggered
grid. Next, a classical continuous FE scheme provides the free surface
elevation at the vertex of the primal mesh. The semi-implicit strategy followed
circumvents the contribution of the surface wave celerity to the CFL-type time
step restriction making the proposed algorithm well-suited for low Froude
number flows. The conservative formulation of the governing equations also
allows the discretization of high Froude number flows with shock waves. As
such, the new hybrid FV/FE scheme is able to deal simultaneously with both,
subcritical as well as supercritical flows. Besides, the algorithm is well
balanced by construction. The accuracy of the overall methodology is studied
numerically and the C-property is proven theoretically and validated via
numerical experiments. The solution of several Riemann problems attests the
robustness of the new method to deal also with flows containing bores and
discontinuities. Finally, a 3D dam break problem over a dry bottom is studied
and our numerical results are successfully compared with numerical reference
solutions and experimental data.
