Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for modeling fluid-structure interactions

Abstract

Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is a class of mechanics-related problems with mutual dependence between the fluid and structure parts and it is observable nearly everywhere, in natural phenomena to many engineering systems. The primary challenges in developing numerical models with conventional grid-based methods are the inherent nonlinearity and time-dependent nature of FSI, together with possible large deformations and moving interfaces. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is a truly Lagrangian and meshfree particle method that conveniently treats large deformations and naturally captures rapidly moving interfaces and free surfaces. Since its invention, the SPH method has been widely applied to study different problems in engineering and sciences, including FSI problems. This article presents a review of the recent developments in SPH based modeling techniques for solving FSI-related problems. The basic concepts of SPH along with conventional and higher order particle approximation schemes are first introduced. Then, the implementation of FSI in a pure SPH framework and the hybrid approaches of SPH with other grid-based or particle-based methods are discussed. The SPH models of FSI problems with rigid, elastic and flexible structures, with granular materials, and with extremely intensive loadings are demonstrated. Some discussions on several key techniques in SPH including the balance of accuracy, stability and efficiency, the treatment of material interface, the coupling of SPH with other methods, and the particle regularization and adaptive particle resolution are provided as concluding marks.