SPH Modeling of Water-Related Natural Hazards

Abstract

This paper collects some recent smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) applications in the field of natural hazards connected to rapidly varied flows of both water and dense granular mixtures including sediment erosion and bed load transport. The paper gathers together and outlines the basic aspects of some relevant works dealing with flooding on complex topography, sediment scouring, fast landslide dynamics, and induced surge wave. Additionally, the preliminary results of a new study regarding the post-failure dynamics of rainfall-induced shallow landslide are presented. The paper also shows the latest advances in the use of high performance computing (HPC) techniques to accelerate computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes through the efficient use of current computational resources. This aspect is extremely important when simulating complex three-dimensional problems that require a high computational cost and are generally involved in the modeling of water-related natural hazards of practical interest. The paper provides an overview of some widespread SPH free open source software (FOSS) codes applied to multiphase problems of theoretical and practical interest in the field of hydraulic engineering. The paper aims to provide insight into the SPH modeling of some relevant physical aspects involved in water-related natural hazards (e.g., sediment erosion and non-Newtonian rheology). The future perspectives of SPH in this application field are finally pointed out.

A Semi-Infinite Numerical Wave Tank Using Discrete Particle Simulations

“…SPH method was mainly used for the analysis of dam-break [14] or breaking wave using a two-dimensional model [15], but it has been applied to the fluid-structure interaction analysis through coupling with three-dimensional finite element [5,16] or particle-based boundary conditions [17]. Recently, SPH has been used for water-related natural hazard risk analysis such as fast landslides, tsunami waves, and flooding in complex geometry [18]. For example, Manenti et al [19] performed two-dimensional erosional dam-break simulation using SPHERA, a weakly compressible SPH code.…”

Physical Model Study on Discharge over a Dam Due to Landslide Generated Waves

“…Unlike the previous studies conducted in rectangular prismatic water wave channels with landslides impacting a reservoir along the longitudinal direction, the present study considers the 3D effect relating to narrow valleys and slides impinging perpendicular to a reservoir's longitudinal axis (see Figure 1b). The overtopping process (phase three) of a dam as a result of landslide-generated impulse waves has been investigated with physical model experiments [15,[19][20][21][22][23] and numerical modelling [1,16,[24][25][26]. Among the numerical modelling done to study this process, a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach has been used with 2D [24,25] and 3D [27] numerical simulations.…”

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Modeling with Advanced Boundary Conditions for Two-Dimensional Dam-Break Floods

“…compared to 3D CFD (computational fluid dynamics) equations [1,2]. However, given their meshing features, assumptions regarding hydrostatic pressure, and neglect of vertical velocity and flow velocity uniformity along the vertical axis [3,4], traditional numerical solutions to SWEs cannot effectively reproduce the strong distortion of the free surface that occurs in dam-break flows.Mesh-free models, such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), offer an alternative to solving SWEs with grid-based numerical methods and have, accordingly, been applied to several areas of computational fluid dynamics [5,6]. The SPH method presents different advantages: mesh deformation and cracking; calculation of the system's advection and transport (due to its Lagrangian nature); modeling of free surface and phase/fluid interface problems; the ability to manage very large deformations in high-energy phenomena (e.g., explosions, high-velocity impacts, and penetrations); applicability at multiple scales if coupled with molecular dynamics and dissipative particle dynamics; and greater suitability to 3D-modeling than mesh-based methods [7,8].…”

“…Mesh-free models, such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), offer an alternative to solving SWEs with grid-based numerical methods and have, accordingly, been applied to several areas of computational fluid dynamics [5,6]. The SPH method presents different advantages: mesh deformation and cracking; calculation of the system's advection and transport (due to its Lagrangian nature); modeling of free surface and phase/fluid interface problems; the ability to manage very large deformations in high-energy phenomena (e.g., explosions, high-velocity impacts, and penetrations); applicability at multiple scales if coupled with molecular dynamics and dissipative particle dynamics; and greater suitability to 3D-modeling than mesh-based methods [7,8].…”