The applicability of the particle level set method for the simulation of breaking waves

Abstract

We investigate the applicability of the Hybrid Particle Level Set (HPLS) method for the simulation of breaking waves by analysing its performance in modeling sloshing waves and the collapse of a water column in a confined tank. It is found that commonly used restrictions that delete aggressively escaping particles, remove flow features that an unrestricted version of the HPLS captures. However, the unrestricted HPLS performs badly in flow regions where the water phase becomes thin, due to errors in the reseeding procedure that is necessary to maintain adequate resolution of the surface. We propose recommendations to allow for use of the unrestricted method in future calculations. Copyright © 2011 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).