by Xu, Jiafeng – PhD candidate in Høgskolen i Ålesund
(jixu@hials.no), Jun 2015.
Introduction: Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is a mesh-free computational method first developed by Gingold and Monaghan (1977) and Lucy (1977) initially for astrophysical problems. It is a Lagrangian method with the advantage of grasping the discontinuity details of free-surface and faster computing speed. Here is a case of sloshing tank simulation using SPH.
Sloshing tank size: H=15cm, L=100cm, B=25cm
Particle number: 132514
Motion: f=0.5hz, ∠=3deg
Simulation time: 20sec
Calculation time: 3hr
By integrating the pressure distribution on the boundary surface, the total torque acting on the sloshing tank can be calculated easily.
The fluctuating value close to the peak suggests that there are sprays appearing when the wave front hints the boundary on both sides of the tank.
SPH method is an alternative to CFD calculation for specialized cases where large deformation of free-surface exists and real-time feature is in demand.