Hydrolink 2015/3. SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) in Hydraulics

Topic: SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics] in Hydraulic

Study on SPH Viscosity Term Formulations

For viscosity-dominated flows, the viscous effect plays a much more important role. Since the viscosity term in SPH-governing (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) equations involves the discretization of a second-order derivative, its treatment could be much more challenging than that of a first-order derivative, such as the pressure gradient. The present paper summarizes a series of improved methods for modeling the second-order viscosity force term. By using a benchmark patch test, the numerical accuracy and efficiency of different approaches are evaluated under both uniform and non-uniform particle configurations. Then these viscosity force models are used to compute a documented lid-driven cavity flow and its interaction with a cylinder, from which the most recommended viscosity term formulation has been identified

Numerical modelling of local scour with computational methods

Evaluating bed morphological evolution (specifically the scoured bed level) accurately using computational modelling is critical for analyses of the stability of many marine and coastal structures, such as piers, groynes, breakwaters, submarine pipelines and even telecommunication cables. This thesis considers the coupled hydrodynamic and morphodynamic modelling of the local scour around hydraulic structures, such as near a vertical pile or near a horizontal pipe. The focus in this study is on applying a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach to simulate the morphodynamical behaviour of the bed deformation, replacing the structural (i.e. solid mechanics) equation by the sediment continuity equation or Exner equation. Specifically, this works presents a novel method of mesh movement with anisotropic mesh adaptivity based on optimization for simulating local scour near structures with discontinuous Garlerkin (DG) discretisation methods for solving the flow field. Amongst the other goals of this work is the validation of the proposed procedure with previously performed laboratory as well as two- and three-dimensional numerical experiments. Additionally, performance is considered using an implementation of the methodology within Fluidity (http://fluidityproject.github.io/), an open-source, multi-physics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, capable of handling arbitrary multi-scale unstructured tetrahedral meshes and including algorithms to perform dynamic anisotropic mesh adaptivity and mesh movement. The flexibility over mesh structure and resolution that these optimisation capabilities provide makes it potentially highly suitable for accounting the extreme bed morphological evolution close to a fixed solid structure under the action of hydrodynamics. Galerkin-based finite element methods have been used for the hydrodynamics (including discontinuous Galerkin discretisations) and morphological calculations, and automatic mesh deformation has been utilised to account for bed evolution changes while preserving the validity and quality of the mesh. Finally, the work extends the scope in regards of computational methods and considers scour modelling with pure Lagrangian and meshless methods such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), which have also become of interest in the analysis and modelling of coastal sediment transport, particularly in scour-related processes. The SPH modelling is considered in a two-phase, flow-sediment fully Lagrangian scour simulation where the discrete-particle interaction forces between phases are resolved at the interface and continuous changes in the bed profile are obtained naturally.Open Acces

ISPH Modelling of Solitary Wave Interaction with Permeable Beaches

Coastal areas are vulnerable to natural disasters such as storm surges and tsunamis. Dykes, wave-absorbing blocks, and forests, are typical solutions to mitigate coastal disasters. In coastal engineering, these protections and beaches are considered as porous media. Accurate prediction of wave motion around porous structures is necessary for the effective design of stable and durable coastal protections. Although mesh-based methods have been conventionally utilised to simulate porous flows, they often suffer from numerical diffusion due to large deformation of a grid. Mesh-free methods are more suitable for simulating violent free-surface flows. Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is a meshless and particle method, which can be applied to simulations of moving free surface flows with porous structures. This thesis presents an incompressible SPH (ISPH) model that can simulate violent porous flows. In the present ISPH model, dummy particles were used to implement porous structures. These dummy particles have information on porosity, mass and density. A new water-porous interface was proposed so that the model does not need any transition zone at the water-porous boundary. Porosity was defined linearly by the amount of porous particles included in the support domain of a target particle. A new free surface condition was presented to search for free surface particles correctly even if they exist in a porous region. To obtain smooth pressure fields, the source term of the pressure equation was modified with the higher-order source term. The present ISPH model was validated through the simulation of dambreaking with a porous block. The simulation results agreed strongly with the experiment. To investigate wave interactions with porous media, the present ISPH model was applied to simulations of solitary wave runup on permeable slopes. In these simulations, triangle and parallelogram porous structures with various mean grain sizes were focused. Two different scale slopes were considered to generate both nonbreaking and breaking waves. For nonbreaking waves, runup height decreased nearly linearly as the mean grain size of a permeable slope became logarithmically larger. When the grain size became larger, runup height on the thickest parallelogram porous structure was smaller than that on the thinner parallelogram porous media. This phenomenon indicates that the shape and grain size of porous structures can be essential factors to determine runup height of nonbreaking waves. Meanwhile, for breaking waves, nearly the same runup height was obtained in any shape of permeable slopes even with the large grain size of porous media. This result implies that the mean grain diameter predominantly determines runup height of breaking waves. All the above-mentioned results demonstrate that the present ISPH model is capable of simulating violent porous flows and investigating wave interactions with porous structures. The findings in this thesis can contribute to a better understanding of permeability effects on coastal disaster mitigation and to more accurate prediction of runup height on porous structures

SPHysics Simulation of Experimental Spillway Hydraulics

In this paper, we use the parallel open source code parallelSPHysics based on the weakly compressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (WCSPH) approach to study a spillway flow over stepped stairs. SPH is a robust mesh-free particle modelling technique and has great potential in treating the free surfaces in spillway hydraulics. A laboratory experiment is carried out for the different flow discharges and spillway step geometries. The physical model is constructed from a prototype reservoir dam in the practical field. During the experiment, flow discharge over the weir crest, free surface, velocity and pressure profiles along the spillway are measured. In the present SPH study, a straightforward push-paddle model is used to generate the steady inflow discharge in front of the weir. The parallelSPHysics model is first validated by a documented benchmark case of skimming flow over a stepped spillway. Subsequently, it is used to reproduce a laboratory experiment based on a prototype hydraulic dam project located in Qinghai Province, China. The detailed comparisons are made on the pressure profiles on the steps between the SPH results and experimental data. The energy dissipation features of the flows under different flow conditions are also discussed. It is shown that the pressure on the horizontal face of the steps demonstrates an S-shape, while on the vertical face it is negative on the upper part and positive on the lower part. The energy dissipation efficiency of the spillway could reach nearly 80%

Modelling large floating bodies in urban area flash-floods via a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model

Large debris, including vehicles parked along floodplains, can cause severe damage and significant loss of life during urban area flash-floods. In this study, the authors validated and applied the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model, developed in Amicarelli et al. (2015), which reproduces in 3D the dynamics of rigid bodies driven by free surface flows, to the design of flood mitigation measures. To validate the model, the authors compared the model's predictions to the results of an experimental setup, involving a dam breach that strikes two fixed obstacles and three transportable floating bodies. Given the accuracy of the results, in terms of water depth over time and the time history of the bodies' movements, the SPH model explored in this study was used to analyse the mitigation efficiency of a proposed structural intervention - the use of small barriers (groynes) to prevent the transport of floating bodies. Different groynes configurations were examined to identify the most appropriate design and layout for urban area flash flood damage mitigation. The authors found that groynes positioned upstream and downstream of each floating body can be effective as a risk mitigation measure for damage resulting from their movement. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

DualSPHysics: from fluid dynamics to multiphysics problems

DualSPHysics is a weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) Navier–Stokes solver initially conceived to deal with coastal engineering problems, especially those related to wave impact with coastal structures. Since the first release back in 2011, DualSPHysics has shown to be robust and accurate for simulating extreme wave events along with a continuous improvement in efficiency thanks to the exploitation of hardware such as graphics processing units for scientific computing or the coupling with wave propagating models such as SWASH and OceanWave3D. Numerous additional functionalities have also been included in the DualSPHysics package over the last few years which allow the simulation of fluid-driven objects. The use of the discrete element method has allowed the solver to simulate the interaction among different bodies (sliding rocks, for example), which provides a unique tool to analyse debris flows. In addition, the recent coupling with other solvers like Project Chrono or MoorDyn has been a milestone in the development of the solver. Project Chrono allows the simulation of articulated structures with joints, hinges, sliders and springs and MoorDyn allows simulating moored structures. Both functionalities make DualSPHysics especially suited for the simulation of offshore energy harvesting devices. Lately, the present state of maturity of the solver goes beyond single-phase simulations, allowing multi-phase simulations with gas–liquid and a combination of Newtonian and non-Newtonian models expanding further the capabilities and range of applications for the DualSPHysics solver. These advances and functionalities make DualSPHysics an advanced meshless solver with emphasis on free-surface flow modelling

Comparison of multiphase SPH and LBM approaches for the simulation of intermittent flows

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) are increasingly popular and attractive methods that propose efficient multiphase formulations, each one with its own strengths and weaknesses. In this context, when it comes to study a given multi-fluid problem, it is helpful to rely on a quantitative comparison to decide which approach should be used and in which context. In particular, the simulation of intermittent two-phase flows in pipes such as slug flows is a complex problem involving moving and intersecting interfaces for which both SPH and LBM could be considered. It is a problem of interest in petroleum applications since the formation of slug flows that can occur in submarine pipelines connecting the wells to the production facility can cause undesired behaviors with hazardous consequences. In this work, we compare SPH and LBM multiphase formulations where surface tension effects are modeled respectively using the continuum surface force and the color gradient approaches on a collection of standard test cases, and on the simulation of intermittent flows in 2D. This paper aims to highlight the contributions and limitations of SPH and LBM when applied to these problems. First, we compare our implementations on static bubble problems with different density and viscosity ratios. Then, we focus on gravity driven simulations of slug flows in pipes for several Reynolds numbers. Finally, we conclude with simulations of slug flows with inlet/outlet boundary conditions. According to the results presented in this study, we confirm that the SPH approach is more robust and versatile whereas the LBM formulation is more accurate and faster