PARTICLES 2025

Adaptive Refinement and spatially fixed boundaries in the context of particle-position-based PFEM

  • Carvalho, Thiago (University of São Paulo)
  • Sanches, Rodolfo (University of São Paulo)

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The Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) is a powerful approach for simulating fluid-structure interaction problems with topological changes in the fluid domain, particularly free-surface flows. However, traditional PFEM formulations maintain elements of similar characteristic lengths, making adaptive mesh refinement challenging. In this work, we present a particle-position-based PFEM framework for incompressible flow that incorporates adaptive refinement and spatially fixed inflow/outflow boundaries. By using particle positions as variational parameters, the fluid solver is monolithically coupled with a Lagrangian solid solver. The fluid domain is subdivided into spatially fixed regions with distinct characteristic element sizes, and a particle repositioning technique ensures a consistent interface between these regions. This technique also maintains fixed inflow and outflow boundaries. The alpha-shape method is applied separately to each region, considering its respective element size. The proposed framework enhances PFEM's applicability to monolithic fluid-structure interaction problems while reducing computational costs and enabling the simulation of inflow and outflow conditions within the PFEM domain. Numerical examples demonstrate the capabilities and performance of the developed approach.