Smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Drop test simulation – (a) time history of vertical acceleration, SPH compared with Boundary Element Method; (b) snapshot of pressure distribution

Numerical modeling of extreme motion of large floating objects in waves has met with only limited success using available techniques in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), particularly when wave impacts or spray are involved. A new computational method, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), has been developed for non-marine applications in recent years and there is a growing realisation that use of SPH might improve fluid-structure interface models. CMST has developed its own SPH code that can predict the fluid-structure interaction of slamming of high speed vessels, a phenomenon that has proven to be difficult to model using traditional CFD methods.