Numerical analysis of the coupling phenomena between fluid and elastic solid by the SPH method

Abstract

This paper deals with the numerical analysis of coupling phenomena between fluid flow and the deformation of solid. The fluid is treated as a weakly compressible liquid and the solid is treated as a linear elastic body. Both fluid and solid are described by the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The numerical method proposed in this paper needs no additional conditions at the interface between fluid and solid. When the contribution of stress terms to the momentum equations is considered near the interface, the SPH summation is extended to all particles regardless to their nature, that is a fluid particle or a solid particle. Thus, the coupling condition on the interface is automatically satisfied. To validate the performance of the present method, several benchmark problems are solved. Those problems are the well-known dam-breaking problem, the bending oscillation of a cantilever and the deformation of an elastic plate due to time-dependent water flow. The computed results are in good agreement with available experimental and numerical results. Finally, the present method is applied to the simulation of the fracture of an elastic plate due to water flow.