On the accuracy of DualSPHysics to assess violent collisions with coastal structures

Abstract

The accuracy of DualSPHysics and IHFOAM to reproduce the propagation of a regular wave train and its collision with a vertical sea wall with a hanging horizontal cantilever slab was compared by different metrics (skill index, normalized standard deviation, correlation coefficient and root-mean square error). These metrics were applied to elevation of the free-surface and to the horizontal force exerted on the wall. The numerical results of both models converge to experimental values when increasing the resolution, being the accuracy similar for both models at high spatial resolution, although IHFOAM has a slightly higher performance that DualSPHysics for low and medium resolutions. Overall, the analysis suggests that mesh-less models have attained the level of maturity required to provide results with an accuracy equivalent to mesh-based models.