Time domain simulation of sound waves using smoothed particle hydrodynamics algorithm with artificial viscosity

Abstract

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), as a Lagrangian, meshfree method, is supposed to be useful in solving acoustic problems, such as combustion noise, bubble acoustics, etc., and has been gradually used in sound wave computation. However, unphysical oscillations in the sound wave simulation cannot be ignored. In this paper, an artificial viscosity term is added into the standard SPH algorithm used for solving linearized acoustic wave equations. SPH algorithms with or without artificial viscosity are both built to compute sound propagation and interference in the time domain. Then, the effects of the smoothing kernel function, particle spacing and Courant number on the SPH algorithms of sound waves are discussed. After comparing SPH simulation results with theoretical solutions, it is shown that the result of the SPH algorithm with the artificial viscosity term added attains good agreement with the theoretical solution by effectively reducing unphysical oscillations. In addition, suitable computational parameters of SPH algorithms are proposed through analyzing the sound pressure errors for simulating sound waves.