Theme

The workshop exclusively focuses on the Smoothed Particle 
Hydrodynamics (SPH) methodology and related simulation 
approaches. The methodology has recently gained enhanced 
attention by various researchers in the area of scientific 
computing. The SPH method was initially developed to study 
the development of galaxies in astrophysics. Yet, a number 
of developments based on this approach have been launched by 
various research teams in association with e.g. 
environmental engineering, applied solid mechanics, marine 
and coastal engineering, nuclear power engineering, medical 
engineering and geotechnical applications, amongst others.

Applications involve problems from macro-scale to submicro 
scale. Prominent examples refer to tsunami and landslide 
simulations, cosmic structure formation and galaxy 
collisions, liquid gas sloshing in LNG tankers, solid 
fracturing due to high-velocity impact, wave energy 
generation using floating bobber arrays, slamming loads on 
offshore structures, flooding of ships sections, decay of 
tip vortices behind aircrafts and human lung respiration 
simulations, amongst others. Due to the huge computational 
effort associated to SPH simulations, a significant branch 
of SPH research is concerned with high-performance computing 
on the most recent hardware technologies (e.g. massively 
parallel CPU & GPU computing). Moreover, the methodology is 
often applied to achieve ambitious virtual-reality 
animations and to support the virtual training, e.g. of 
medical students.

Characteristics of the Workshop

 Starting from the first workshop in Rome 2006, which 
involved approximately 30 presentations, the subsequent 
workshops in Madrid 2007, Lausanne 2008, Nantes 2009, 
Manchester 2010, Hamburg 2011, Prato 2012 , Trondheim 2013 , 
Paris 2014 and Parma 2015 continuously grew towards a three-
day event with approximately 90 participants, about 50-55 
oral presentations, including 2 keynote lectures. Each 
contribution is supplemented by an 8 page colour paper. 
Proceedings are published with an ISBN.

Dedicated to the aim of stimulating an enhanced direct 
exchange of ideas between the community of SPH researchers, 
there will be no parallel session during the Workshop. All 
abstracts of the offered contributions are screened by at 
least three experts. Associated to the Workshop, an SPH 
Training Day (13th June) is offered to researchers who are 
familiar with the fundamentals of SPH but are beginning 
their work in the field. The best student contribution to 
the workshop is awarded (Libersky Prize).

Background Organisation

Following the impulse generated by a collection of national 
initiatives, a need of fostering and clustering efforts and 
developments has been identified around 2005. In conclusion, 
the Special Interest Group (SIG) SPH European Research 
Interest Community (SPHERIC) has been installed under the 
aegis of the European Research Community for Flow Turbulence 
and Combustion (ERCOFTAC). The goal of SPHERIC is indeed to 
foster the spread of this simulation method within Europe (& 
abroad). It forms a framework for closer cooperation between 
research groups working on the subject and serves as a 
platform for the information exchange from science to 
industry. At present the network involves 62 members, among 
them are 15 industrial partners. Additional information 
about SPHERIC can be found on the SPHERIC website.