Robin‐Neumann transmission conditions for fluid‐structure coupling: Embedded boundary implementation and parameter analysis. (17th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cao, Shunxiang; Main, Alex; Wang, Kevin G.
• Is Part Of: International journal for numerical methods in engineering. Volume 115:Number 5(2018)
• Page Start: 578
• Page End: 603
• Publication Date: 2018-05-17
• Subjects: embedded boundary method -- fluid‐structure interaction -- numerical added‐mass effect -- partitioned procedure -- Robin‐Neumann transmission conditions; Numerical analysis -- Periodicals; Engineering mathematics -- Periodicals; 620.001518
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.5817
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0029-5981

Abstract

Summary: Partitioned procedures are appealing for solving complex fluid‐structure interaction (FSI) problems, as they allow existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural dynamics algorithms and solvers to be combined and reused. However, for problems involving incompressible flow and strong added‐mass effect (eg, heavy fluid and slender structure), partitioned procedures suffer from numerical instability, which typically requires additional subiterations between the fluid and structural solvers, hence significantly increasing the computational cost. This paper investigates the use of Robin‐Neumann transmission conditions to mitigate the above instability issue. Firstly, an embedded Robin boundary method is presented in the context of projection‐based incompressible CFD and finite element–based computational structural dynamics. The method utilizes operator splitting and a modified ghost fluid method to enforce the Robin transmission condition on fluid‐structure interfaces embedded in structured non–body‐conforming CFD grids. The method is demonstrated and verified using the Turek and Hron benchmark problem, which involves a slender beam undergoing large transient deformation in an unsteady vortex‐dominated channel flow. Secondly, this paper investigates the effect of the combination parameter in the Robin transmission condition, ie, α f, on numerical stability and solution accuracy. This paper presents a numerical study using the Turek and Hron benchmark problem and an analytical study using a simplified FSI model featuring an Euler‐Bernoulli beam interacting with a two‐dimensional incompressible inviscid flow. Both studies reveal a trade‐off between stability and accuracy: smaller values of α f tend to improve numerical stability, yet deteriorate the accuracy of the partitioned solution. Using the simplified FSI model, the critical value of α f that optimizes this trade‐off is derived and discussed.