Advancement in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics for Applying to Ocean Wave Energy Conversion

The main purpose of this study is to enhance the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method that can more accurately simulate the hydrodynamic forces on a structure and can be used for determining efficient designs for wave energy devices. A desirable method is one that is accurate and easy to apply. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics is a method used in various fields of study. Unlike the finite difference method (FDM), SPH is a Lagrangian mesh-free method in which each particle moves according to the property of the surrounding flow and governing conservation equations, and carries the properties of water such as density, pressure and mass.;SPH is validated by several experimental data sets in 2D and 3D. Basic fluid mechanics demonstrates that the boundary layer generation and flow separation around a blunt object play key roles in wake generation behind the object. It is known that the boundary layer thickness depends inversely on the Reynolds number. Hence, using very small particles is necessary to simulate the ultra-thin boundary layer. On the other hand it is impossible to have very fine particles for a problem with large domain. Our new algorithms and techniques minimize the total number of required particles and consequently reduce computational cost when fine particles are employed locally and mirror boundary condition is applied for symmetric geometries.