SPH modeling of plane jets into water bodies through an inflow/outflow algorithm

• Study of plane jets propagating into still fluid tanks and current flows.
• Development of an SPH model with appropriate inflow/outflow boundary conditions.
• Validation with other numerical approaches, experiments and analytical solutions.

This paper deals with the development and application of a two-dimensional weakly compressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model to study plane jets propagating into still fluid tanks and current flows. These flow processes occurring in different water bodies are here treated through an appropriate algorithm to model inlet/outlet boundary conditions which are defined by different sets of particles. SPH equations of fluid mechanics including viscous and interface stabilization terms are adopted to determine the flow field induced by the fluid interaction. Flow phenomena induced by jet injection in a water body occur in natural and anthropic environments such as pollutant discharge into reservoirs, rivers and coasts, or in several engineering applications such as marine outfalls. Three test cases with different initial configurations are simulated: injection of a jet at the top and at the bottom of a water tank, and upstream of a channel flow (coflow jet). The proposed SPH model is validated both near the jet nozzle and far from it, comparing the obtained jet trajectories, widths and velocities with other numerical approaches, laboratory experiments and analytical solutions.