Coupled SPH-FVM Simulation within the OpenFOAM Framework

This paper discusses coupling of the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Finite Volume Method (FVM) approaches within the OpenFOAM framework to capitalize upon the benefits of both meshed and meshless methods. In the work described herein, the mesh-free, particle-based, Lagrangian SPH method is used at free surfaces or near deformable boundaries, whereas the grid-based Eulerian FVM method is used over the larger fluid domain. For the SPH portion of the simulation, dynamic virtual particles in addition of real boundary particles are used to mitigate boundary deficiencies. The introduction of artificial viscosity at the air-water interface avoids instabilities associated with the high density ratio. The coupled system is validated by modeling a dam-break problem and comparing it with an experiment.