Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics for coastal engineering problems

► SPH is a numerical method to solve problems of computational fluid dynamics. ► DualSPHysics code enables simulations of million particles at a reasonable runtime. ► DualSPHysics is an accurate model to reproduce wave impact on structures. ► Validation is performed with analytical and experimental data showing accuracy. ► The case of study mimics a promenade with the urban furniture using real dimensions. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics is a numerical method to solve problems of computational fluid dynamics. The method has been proven to be suitable to reproduce free-surface phenomena such as breaking waves, fluid–structure interaction and no-linear behaviour of the fluid are studied. DualSPHysics is a SPH code that enables the simulations of several million particles in a reasonable computational time, making possible the study of real engineering problems. The code is validated with analytical and experimental data showing reliability, accuracy and efficiency. Finally, the capabilities of DualSPHysics to reproduce wave–structure interaction are shown where wave heights and forces exerted onto objects of the coast are numerically computed. The case of study mimics a realistic promenade including the urban furniture and with dimensions and geometries close to the real ones.