A new kernel function for SPH with applications to free surface flows

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a popular meshfree Lagrangian particle method, which uses a kernel function for numerical approximations. The kernel function is closely related to the computational accuracy and stability of the SPH method. In this paper, a new kernel function is proposed, which consists of two cosine functions and is referred to as double cosine kernel function. The newly proposed double cosine kernel function is sufficiently smooth, and is associated with an adjustable support domain. It also has smaller second order momentum, and therefore it can have better accuracy in terms of kernel approximation. SPH method with this double cosine kernel function is applied to simulate a dam-break flow and water entry of a horizontal circular cylinder. The obtained SPH results agree very well with the experimental results. The double cosine kernel function is also comparatively studied with two frequently used SPH kernel functions, Gaussian and cubic spline kernel functions.