Large deformation simulations of geomaterials using moving particle semi-implicit method

Numerical simulation tools are required to describe large deformations of geomaterials for evaluating the risk of geo-disasters. This study focused on moving particle semi-implicit(MPS) method, which is a Lagrangian gridless particle method, and investigated its performance and stability to simulate large deformation of geomaterials. A calculation method was developed using geomaterials modeled as Bingham fluids to improve the original MPS method and enhance its stability. Two numerical tests showed that results from the improved MPS method was in good agreement with the theoretical value.Furthermore, numerical simulations were calibrated by laboratory experiments. It showed that the simulation results matched well with the experimentally observed free-surface configurations for flowing sand. In addition, the model could generally predict the time-history of the impact force. The MPS method could be a useful tool to evaluate large deformation of geomaterials.

Simulation of Solid Particle Interactions Including Segregated Lamination by Using MPS Method

A new MPS(Moving Particle Semi-implicit)method is developed to simulate the behaviors and interactions of multiple fine solid particles as a continuum.As fluid particles are affected by viscosity,so solid particles are affected by friction.The solid particle dynamics for landslides,dumping,and gravity sorting etc.which can be difficult to simulate using conventional MPS methods,are modeled in this paper using the developed multi-solid-particle MPS method that benefits from drawing comparisons with the corresponding fluid particle behaviors.The present MPS results for dumping solid particles are verified against the corresponding DEM(Discrete Element Method)results.The shape and angle of repose for solid particles are shown to be highly dependent on the friction coefficient between grains.The peculiar phenomenon of segregated lamination(gravity sorting)among grains of different densities has been successfully reproduced using the multi-solid-particle MPS method.Lamination quality is found to be dependent on the densities and frictional coefficients of the constituent particles.The behavior of heterogeneous mixtures of multiple solid and liquid particles are also compared and discussed.This newly developed tool offers a window into the physical dynamics of sedimentology that the broader geoscience community might benefit from.

Efficient rendering of breaking waves using MPS method

This paper proposes an approach for rendering breaking waves out of large-scale of particle-based simulation. Moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) is used to solve the governing equation, and 2D simulation is expanded to 3D representation by giving motion variation using fractional Brownian motion (fBm). The waterbody surface is reconstructed from the outlines of 2D simulation. The splashing effect is computed according to the properties of the particles. Realistic features of the wave are ren-dered on GPU, including the reflective and refractive effect and the effect of splash. Experiments showed that the proposed method can simulate large scale breaking waves efficiently.

Numerical Simulation of Sloshing with Large Deforming Free Surface by MPS-LES Method

Moving particle semi-implicit （MPS） method is a fully Lagrangian particle method which can easily solve problems with violent free surface. Although it has demonstrated its advantage in ocean engineering applications, it still has some defects to be improved. In this paper, MPS method is extended to the large eddy simulation （LES） by coupling with a sub-particle-scale （SPS） turbulence model. The SPS turbulence model turns into the Reynolds stress terms in the filtered momentum equation, and the Smagorinsky model is introduced to describe the Reynolds stress terms. Although MPS method has the advantage in the simulation of the free surface flow, a lot of non-free surface particles are treated as free surface particles in the original MPS model. In this paper, we use a new free surface tracing method and the key point is ＂neighbor particle＂. In this new method, the zone around each particle is divided into eight parts, and the particle will be treated as a free surface particle as long as there are no ＂neighbor particles＂ in any two parts of the zone. As the number density parameter judging method has a high efficiency for the free surface particles tracing, we combine it with the neighbor detected method. First, we select out the particles which may be mistreated with high probabilities by using the number density parameter judging method. And then we deal with these particles with the neighbor detected method. By doing this, the new mixed free surface tracing method can reduce the mistreatment problem efficiently. The serious pressure fluctuation is an obvious defect in MPS method, and therefore an area-time average technique is used in this paper to remove the pressure fluctuation with a quite good result. With these improvements, the modified MPS-LES method is applied to simulate liquid sloshing problems with large deforming free surface. Results show that the modified MPS-LES method can simulate the large deforming free surface easily. It can not only capture the large impact pressure accurately on rolling tank wall but also can generate all physical phenomena successfully. The good agreement between numerical and experimental results proves that the modified MPS-LES method is a good CFD methodology in free surface flow simulations.

Numerical Simulation of the Solitary Wave Interacting with an Elastic Structure Using MPS-FEM Coupled Method

Fluid-Structure Interaction(FSI) caused by fluid impacting onto a flexible structure commonly occurs in naval architecture and ocean engineering. Research on the problem of wave-structure interaction is important to ensure the safety of offshore structures. This paper presents the Moving Particle Semi-implicit and Finite Element Coupled Method(MPS-FEM) to simulate FSI problems. The Moving Particle Semi-implicit(MPS) method is used to calculate the fluid domain, while the Finite Element Method(FEM) is used to address the structure domain. The scheme for the coupling of MPS and FEM is introduced first. Then, numerical validation and convergent study are performed to verify the accuracy of the solver for solitary wave generation and FSI problems. The interaction between the solitary wave and an elastic structure is investigated by using the MPS-FEM coupled method.

Numerical Simulation of Sloshing Using the MPS-FSI Method with Large Eddy Simulation

A numerical model has been developed to study sloshing of turbulent flow in a tank with elastic baffles. The Moving-Particle Semi-implicit method(MPS) is a kind of meshless Lagrangian calculation method. The large eddy simulation(LES) approach is employed to model the turbulence by using the Smagorinsky Sub-Particle Scale(SPS)closure model. This paper uses MPS-FSI method with LES to simulate the interaction between free surface flow and a thin elastic baffle in sloshing. Then, the numerical model is validated, and the numerical solution has good agreement with experimental data for sloshing in a tank with elastic baffles. Furthermore, under external excitations,the MPS is applied to viscous laminar flow and turbulent flow, with both the deformation of elastic baffles and the wave height of the free surface are compared with each other. Besides, the impact pressure with/without baffles and wave height of free surface are investigated and discussed in detail. Finally, preliminary simulations are carried out in the damage problem of elastic baffles, taking the advantage of the MPS-FSI method in computations of the fluid–structure interaction with large deformation.

Implementation of the moving particle semi-implicit method on GPU

The Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method performs well in simulating violent free surface flow and hence becomes popular in the area of fluid flow simulation. However, the implementations of searching neighbouring particles and solving the large sparse matrix equations (Poisson-type equation) are very time-consuming. In order to utilize the tremendous power of parallel computation of Graphics Processing Units (GPU), this study has developed a GPU-based MPS model employing the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) on NVIDIA GTX 280. The efficient neighbourhood particle searching is done through an indirect method and the Poisson-type pressure equation is solved by the Bi-Conjugate Gradient (BiCG) method. Four different optimization levels for the present general parallel GPU-based MPS model are demonstrated. In addition, the elaborate optimization of GPU code is also discussed. A benchmark problem of dam-breaking flow is simulated using both codes of the present GPU-based MPS and the original CPU-based MPS. The comparisons between them show that the GPU-based MPS model outperforms 26 times the traditional CPU model.

Numerical simulation of liquid sloshing in a spherical tank by MPS method

This paper investigates the sloshing phenomena in a spherical liquid tank using the moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method,a crucial study in fluid dynamics.Distinct from previous research focused on rectangular or LNG tanks,this work explores the unique motion patterns inherent to spherical geometries.The accuracy of our in-house MPS solver MLParticle-SJTU is validated against experimental data and finite volume method(FVM).And the MPS method reveals a closer alignment with experimental outcomes,which suggests that MPS method is particularly effective for modeling complex,non-linear fluid behaviors.Then the fluid’s response to excitation at its natural frequency is simulated,showcasing vigorous sloshing and rotational motion.Detailed analyses of the fluid motion are conducted by drawing streamline diagrams,velocity vector diagrams,and vorticity maps.The fluid’s motion response is explored using both time-domain and frequency-domain curves of the fluid centroid,as well as the sloshing force.

Numerical simulations of faraday waves in cylindrical and hexagonal tanks based on MPS method

When a partially loaded liquid container vibrates along the vertical direction,the liquid inside will oscillate regularly,which is called Faraday wave.In some cases,the wave form of the Faraday wave is stable and smooth,and sometimes there is violent wave breaking and liquid splashing.In this paper,the Faraday waves inside the cylindrical tank and the hexagonal tanks are simulated by the in-house solver MLParticle-SJTU base on the moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method.The surface tension model is used to better model the free surfaces with large deformations.Phenomena such as wave breaking and liquid splashing are well captured and simulated.The results show that the waveforms are significantly different at different excitation frequencies.And the tank shape also has an obvious effect on the waveform.

Comparative study of MPS method and level-set method for sloshing flows

This paper presents a comparative study of a meshless level-set method in the simulation of sloshing flows. The numerical moving particle semi-implicit （MPS） method and a grid based schemes of the MPS and level-set methods are outlined and two violent sloshing cases are considered. The computed results are compared with the corresponding experimental data for validation. The impact pressure and the deformations of free surface induced by sloshing are comparatively analyzed, and are in good agreement with experimental ones. Results show that both the MPS and level-set methods are good tools for simulation of violent sloshing flows. However, the second pressure peaks as well as breaking and splashing of free surface by the MPS method are captured better than by the level-set method.

Numerical study of the wave-induced slamming force on the elastic plate based on MPS-FEM coupled method

Slamming is the phenomenon of structure impacting the water surface. It always results in the extremely high load on the structure. This paper is mainly concerned with the slamming force caused by the wave-plate interaction. In this paper, the process of solitary wave impacting onto the horizontal plate is simulated with the help of the moving particle semi-implicit and finite element coupled method（MPS-FEM）. The MPS method is adopted to calculate the fluid domain while the structural domain is solved by FEM method. In the first series of simulations, the profiles of the solitary waves with various amplitudes, which are generated in the numerical wave tank, are compared with the theoretical results. Thereafter the interaction between the solitary waves and a rigid plate is simulated. The effects of wave amplitude, as well as the elevation of the plate above the initial water level, on the slamming force are numerically investigated. The calculated results are compared with the available experimental data. Finally, the interactions between the solitary waves and the elastic plate are also simulated. The effects of the structural flexibility on the wave-induced force are analyzed by the comparison between the cases with elastic and the rigid plate.

Hydroelastic responses of an elastic cylinder impacting on the free surface by MPS-FEM coupled method

In naval engineering and offshore industry,the fluid-structure interaction(FSI)problem is a very common problem,and water entry is a very representative one.The hydroelasticity effects due to slamming are of great interest.In this paper,the water entry problem is simulated by the moving particle semi-implicit&finite element method(MPS-FEM)coupled method.The MPS method is used for the fluid because it is very suitable for the violent free-surface flow.The structure domain is solved by the FEM method because of the maturity in solving structural motion and deformation.The water entry of a rigid cylinder is numerically studied first and the results show good agreements with previous published data.After that,variable analysis is conducted in the water entry simulation of an elastic cylinder,including the structural elasticity and impact velocity.

Numerical simulations of multi-layer-liquid sloshing by multiphase MPS method

In this paper,a multiphase moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method is developed by introduction of various multiphase models into the original MPS method for single-phase flows,and is then applied to the numerical simulations of two-layer-liquid and three-layer-liquid sloshing in a 2-D rectangular tank under different external excitations.To validate the accuracy of the present multiphase MPS method,the qualitative and quantitative results,including wave profiles,interface elevations and impact pressures,are compared with experimental data and other numerical results,which show a good agreement.In particular,the evolutions of free surface and phase interfaces are compared and an obvious discrepancy is found,indicating that the phase interfaces may suffer from complex deformations while the free surface keeps relatively quiet.Moreover,the different modes of phase interface are observed under different excitation frequencies.Then,the violent sloshing of a three-layer-liquid system is simulated and the phenomenon of internal wave breaking is well captured,which mainly benefitted from the Lagrangian basis of MPS method and its advantage in multiphase flows with complex interfaces.Finally,the three-layer-liquid sloshing with a vertical baffle are simulated to investigate the suppressing effect of baffle on multi-layer-liquid sloshing.

Numerical simulations of sloshing waves in vertically excited square tank by improved MPS method

Faraday wave is a phenomenon of sloshing due to a heave motion of a partially filled tank,which is also called parametric instability or parametric resonance.In the present paper,the phenomenon of faraday wave in a pure heave excited square tank is numerically simulated through the moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method.The surface tension effect and a new Dirichlet boundary condition for the pressure Poisson equation are considered to avert unphysical fragmentation and clustering of particles in splash simulation.In the numerical simulation,the evolution of wave motion,and the non-linearity together with breaking phenomenon of faraday wave can be observed.The agreement is good in general,both amplitude and phase.Besides,the parameter studies including the excitation frequency and the forcing amplitude are carried out to analyses the mechanism of resonances response.

Improvement of solidification model and analysis of 3D channel blockage with MPS method

In a severe accident of a nuclear power reactor,coolant channel blockage by solidified molten core debris may significantly influence the core degradations that follow.The moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method is one of the Lagrangian-based particle methods for analyzing incompressible flows.In the study described in this paper,a novel solidification model for analyzing melt flowing channel blockage with the MPS method has been developed,which is suitable to attain a sufficient numerical accuracy with a reasonable calculation cost.The prompt velocity diffusion by viscosity is prioritized over the prompt velocity correction by the pressure term(for assuring incompressibility)within each time step over the“mushy zone”(between the solidus and liquidus temperature)for accurate modeling of solidification before fixing the coordinates of the completely solidified particles.To sustain the numerical accuracy and stability,the corrective matrix and particle shifting techniques have been applied to correct the discretization errors from irregular particle arrangements and to recover the regular particle arrangements,respectively.To validate the newly developed algorithm,2-D benchmark analyses are conducted for steady-state freezing of the water in a laminar flow between two parallel plates.Furthermore,3-D channel blockage analyses of a boiling water reactor(BWR)fuel support piece have been performed.The results show that a partial channel blockage develops from the vicinity of the speed limiter,which does not fully develop into a complete channel blockage,but still diverts the incoming melt flow that follows to the orifice region.

Numerical simulation of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability using the MPS method

In this paper,the two-dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor(RT) instability is directly simulated using the moving particle semiimplicit(MPS) method,which is based on the fully Lagrangian description.The objectives of this paper are to investigate preliminarily the effect of viscosity and finite size domain on the evolution of the RT instability.The simulation results demonstrate that(1) the mushroom-like vortex motions are formed in late time due to fluid viscosity,which give rise to the secondary shear flow instability,(2) the finite thickness of the fluid layer limits the development of the RT instability.The above results are consistent with the experiments and theoretical analyses.Meanwhile,the linear growth rate of the RT instability obtained from the numerical simulation is also in agreement with theoretical analyses.And the nonlinear threshold from the simulation result is comparable with the theoretical estimate.Two stages of the nonlinear evolution of the RT instability are revealed in the numerical simulation,nonlinear saturation and turbulent mixing.

Towards development of enhanced fully-Lagrangian mesh-free computational methods for fluid-structure interaction

Simulation of incompressible fluid flow-elastic structure interactions is targeted by using fully-Lagrangian mesh-free computational methods. A projection-based fluid model（moving particle semi-implicit（MPS）） is coupled with either a Newtonian or a Hamiltonian Lagrangian structure model（MPS or HMPS） in a mathematically-physically consistent manner. The fluid model is founded on the solution of Navier-Stokes and continuity equations. The structure models are configured either in the framework of Newtonian mechanics on the basis of conservation of linear and angular momenta, or Hamiltonian mechanics on the basis of variational principle for incompressible elastodynamics. A set of enhanced schemes are incorporated for projection-based fluid model（Enhanced MPS）, thus, the developed coupled solvers for fluid structure interaction（FSI） are referred to as Enhanced MPS-MPS and Enhanced MPS-HMPS. Besides, two smoothed particle hydrodynamics（SPH）-based FSI solvers, being developed by the authors, are considered and their potential applicability and comparable performance are briefly discussed in comparison with MPS-based FSI solvers. The SPH-based FSI solvers are established through coupling of projection-based incompressible SPH（ISPH） fluid model and SPH-based Newtonian/Hamiltonian structure models, leading to Enhanced ISPH-SPH and Enhanced ISPH-HSPH. A comparative study is carried out on the performances of the FSI solvers through a set of benchmark tests, including hydrostatic water column on an elastic plate,high speed impact of an elastic aluminum beam, hydroelastic slamming of a marine panel and dam break with elastic gate.

CFD simulations of three-dimensional violent sloshing flows in tanks based on MPS and GPU

For violent sloshing,the flow field becomes complicated and 3-D effect is non-negligible.In addition to the excitation direction,the wave can also propagate perpendicular to the excitation direction.Due to the superposition of waves from different directions,the impact pressure imposed on the wall of the tank may increase.In this paper,our in-house solver MPSGPU-SJTU based on moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method coupled with GPU techniques is employed for the liquid sloshing simulation,to study the factors leading to the 3-D effect.Firstly,a series of sloshing simulations are carried out to validate the reliability of present solver.Then,the sensitivity of 3-D effect against some parameters,such as excitation frequency,dimensions of the tank and filling ratio,is checked through numerical simulations.Time histories of pressure obtained by 2-D and 3-D simulations are compared to judge the occurrence of 3-D effect.It concludes that effects of those parameters are all significant.

Numerical simulation of 3-D free surface flows by overlapping MPS

An overlapping moving particle semi-implicit （MPS） method is applied for 3-D free surface flows based on our in-house particle solver MLParticle-SJTU. In this method, the coarse particles are distributed in the whole domain and the fine particles are distributed in the local region of interest at the same time. With the fine particles being generated and removed dynamically, an algorithm of generating particles based on the 3-D overlapping volume is developed. Then, a 3-D dam break flow with an obstacle is simulated to validate the overlapping MPS. The qualitative comparison among experimental data and the results obtained by the VOF and the MPS shows that the shape of the free surface obtained by the overlapping MPS is more accurate than that obtained by the UNI-coarse and close to that obtained by the UNI-fine in the overlapping domain. In addition, the water height and the impact pressure at Pi are also in an overall agreement with experimental data. Finally, the CPU time required by the overlapping MPS is about half of that required by the UNl-fine.

Two-dimensional numerical simulation of hydrodynamic behaviors of drop covered with vapor film

The breakup of drop covered with vapor film is numerically simulated. The moving particle semi-implicit method is used to solve the 2-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations for drop, vapor and ambient fluid. The results show that vapor film suppresses the drop breakup and hence the critical Weber number increases with the increasing thickness of vapor film. The breakup process can be divided into two stages. The drop deformation and breakup mainly occur in the later stage. Three breakup mechanisms are unveiled, which are almost the same as that of drop breakup without vapor film except for the stronger Rayleigh-Taylor instability for drop with vapor film. Our simulation results are comparable with the previous experiments.