An immersed-shell method for modelling fluid-structure interactions

Area of Science:

• Computational fluid dynamics
• Numerical modeling
• Fluid-structure interaction

Background:

• Accurate simulation of fluid-structure interactions (FSI) is crucial in various engineering disciplines.
• Existing numerical methods often face challenges in efficiently handling complex geometries and coupling fluid and solid dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel numerical method, the immersed-shell approach, for modeling fluid-structure interactions.
• To demonstrate the theoretical underpinnings and practical implementation of this new FSI modeling technique.

Main Methods:

• Solving fluid-dynamics equations on an extended domain encompassing both fluid and solid structures.
• Employing a penalty force to relax fluid and solid velocities, acting on a thin shell surrounding solid structures.
• Representing the shell via a non-zero concentration field obtained by mapping the shell mesh onto the extended mesh.

Main Results:

• The paper outlines the theoretical framework of the immersed-shell approach.
• It details the coupling mechanism between fluid-dynamics and structural-dynamics solvers.
• Initial results for fundamental cases demonstrating the method's applicability are presented.

Conclusions:

• The immersed-shell approach offers a novel and effective strategy for numerically modeling fluid-structure interactions.
• This method facilitates robust coupling between fluid and structural solvers within a unified computational framework.
• Further validation and application to more complex scenarios are warranted.