SPH: an Experience of Application in the Naval Architecture Field

The SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) technique is a numerical methodology where the fluid is modelled by a number of particles which are followed during their motions from a positional and physical properties point of view. The technique was developed by Gingold and Monaghan (1977) and ndependently by Lucy (1977), initially with applications in the astrophysics field, to simulate stellar collision, planet formation and modelling accretion disks. The significant advantage of particle methods is the possibility to study the flow, and in particular a free surface, without the necessity of mesh definition. The interest raised in ship hydrodynamics is due both to the possibility, in principle, to correctly take care of strong unsteady non-linearities of the free surface flow and both to easily create complex geometry. In this paper, after a brief description of the methodology and following the experience derived from selected benchmark cases, a further application will be presented as a step forward to assess the possibility of applying the methodology in the investigation of the damaged ship with water entrance. The effects implied in the choice of some significant parameters in the procedure will be illustrated.