Incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics model of a rectangular tuned liquid damper containing screens

Abstract

Damping screens are often installed within a tuned liquid damper (TLD) to increase the energy dissipation beyond what the sloshing liquid alone can provide. Many numerical models exist to study the response of a TLD; however, there are often associated limitations on fluid depth or excitation amplitude. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method can capture the fully nonlinear TLD response without limitation by solving the Navier–Stokes equations throughout the fluid domain. A two-dimensional explicit incompressible SPH model is presented and validated against a hydrostatic and dam break flow scenario. The damping screens are modelled in SPH on a macroscopic level using Morison’s equation for force on an object submerged in fluid flow. This implementation is computationally efficient compared to explicitly modelling the damping screens using solid particles as it allows for a much larger initial particle spacing. The SPH model results for screen forces, wave heights, and TLD sloshing water forces are validated against experimental time and frequency response data. The SPH model is found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data for a range of TLD tank dimensions (L=0.966 and 1.524 m), fluid depths (h/L= 0.05 to 0.25), excitation amplitudes (X0/L= 0.0025 to 0.031), and excitation frequencies (β=0.7 to 1.3). The presented SPH model for a TLD with damping screens can be used to study the nonlinear response of a rectangular TLD.