Application of the peridynamic differential operator to the solution of sloshing problems in tanks

The purpose of this paper is to apply the Peridynamic differential operator (PDDO) to incompressible inviscid fluid flow with moving boundaries. Based on the potential flow theory, a Lagrangian formulation is used to cope with non-linear free-surface waves of sloshing water in 2D and 3D rectangular and square tanks.

In fact, PDDO recasts the local differentiation operator through a nonlocal integration scheme. This makes the method capable of determining the derivatives of a field variable, more precisely than direct differentiation, when jump discontinuities or gradient singularities come into the picture. The issue of gradient singularity can be found in tanks containing vertical/horizontal baffles.

The application of PDDO helps to obtain the velocity field with a high accuracy at each time step that leads to a suitable geometry updating for the procedure. Domain/boundary nodes are updated by using a second-order finite difference time algorithm. The method is applied to the solution of different examples including tanks with baffles. The accuracy of the method is scrutinized by comparing the numerical results with analytical, numerical and experimental results available in the literature.

Based on the investigations, PDDO can be considered a reliable and suitable approach to cope with sloshing problems in tanks. The paper paves the way to apply the method for a wider range of problems such as compressible fluid flow.