Three-Dimensional Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Simulation for Liquid Droplet with Surface Tension

Abstract: We provide a basic method of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulate liquid droplet with surface tension in three dimensions. Liquid droplet is a simple case for surface tension modeling. Surface tension works only on fluid surface. In SPH method, we simply apply the surface tension on the boundary particles of liquid. The particle on the 3D boundary was detected dynamically using Free-Surface Detection algorithm. The normal vector and curvature of the boundary surface were calculated simultaneously with 3D boundary surface reconstruction using Moving Least-Squares (MLS) method. Before the reconstruction, the coordinate system was transformed into a local coordinate system. Afterwards, the surface tension force which depends on curvature of the surface, was calculated and applied on the boundary particles of the droplet. We present the simulation result of droplet motion with gravity force. By using the basic method of SPH for fluid modeling, and a combination of 3D Free-Surface Detection algorithm with MLS method, we can simulate droplet phenomena with expected result.