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On Lagrangian meshless methods in free-surface flows

Classically, fluid dynamics have been dealt with analytically because of the lack of numerical resources (Yeung, 1982). With the development of computational ability, many formulations have been developed which typically use the traditional Navier-Stokes equations along with an Eulerian grid. Today, there exists the possibility of using a moving grid (Lagrangian) along with a meshless discretization. The first issue in meshless fluid dynamics is the equations of motion. There are currently two types of Lagrangian formulations. Spherical Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is a method which calculates all equations of motion explicitly. The Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method uses a mathematical foundation based on SPH. However, instead of calculating all laws of motion explicitly, a fractional time step is performed to calculate pressure. A proposed method, Lagrange Implicit Fraction Step (LIFS), has been created which improves the mathematical formulations on the fluid domain. The LIFS method returns to Continuum mechanics to construct the laws of motion based on decomposing all forces of a volume. It is assumed that all forces on this volume can be linearly superposed to calculate the accelerations of each mass. The LIFS method calculates pressure from a boundary value problem with the inclusion of proper flux boundary conditions. The second issue in meshless Lagrangian dynamics is the calculation of derivatives across a domain. The Monte Carlo Integration (MCI) method uses weighted averages to calculate operators. However, the MCI method can be very inaccurate, and is not suitable for sparse grids. The Radial Basis Function (RBF) method is introduced and studied as a possibility to calculate meshless operators. The RBF method involves a solution of a system of equations to calculate interpolants. Machine expenses are shown to limit the viability of the RBF method for large domains. A new method of calculation has been created called Multi-dimensional Lagrange Interpolating Polynomials (MLIP). While Lagrange Interpolating Polynomials are essentially a one-dimensional interpolation, the use of "dimensional-cuts" and Gaussian quadratures can provide multi-dimensional interpolation. This paper is divided into three sections. The first section specifies the equations of motion. The second section provides the mathematical basis for meshless calculations. The third section evaluates the effectiveness of the meshless calculations and compares two fluiddynamic codes. / Fund number: N62271-97-G-0041. / US Navy (USN) author.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:nps.edu/oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/1724
Date01 1900
CreatorsSilverberg, Jon P.
ContributorsUniversity of California, Berkeley.
PublisherMonterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Source SetsNaval Postgraduate School
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format64 p : ill. +1 cd ;, application/pdf
RightsThis publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. As such, it is in the public domain, and under the provisions of Title 17, United States Code, Section 105, may not be copyrighted.

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