Numerical Simulations of Fluid Structure Interaction Problems using a Partitioned Method

LUCIANO GARELLI; RODRIGO R. PAZ; MARIO A. STORTI

Buenos Aires

Simposio; High Performace Computing Latin America Symposium; 2012

Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires

The interaction of a fluid with some movable or deformable structure has a historical and practical importance, and it has to be considered in the design of many engineering systems, like in the rocket nozzle start-up, which involve compressible fluids and high Reynolds number, or in microfluidic where very low Reynolds numbers and incompressible fluid are assumed. In general cases it is very difficult to determine a priori the effects of the fluid over the structure, being these detected during the testing or use period. When the interaction is known to be strong enough to produce important deformation on the structure, intensives experimental tests are carried out. In this context is where the possibility to perform a numerical simulation of the whole system has a significant importance, allowing to test a wide number of design parameters and having as result a detailed description of the fluid (velocities, pressure, turbulence intensity, etc.) and the structure (stress, strain,displacements, etc.). Also when solving numerical FSI problems, the characteristic time and space scales vary widely, so the simulations tend to be arduous in the coupling process and time-consuming in the solution process, because the whole coupled problem is characterized by the smaller time scale to simulate. However, there exists a great interest in solving coupled multiphysics problems, with the aim to obtain reliable predictions of the system behavior. This interest has been accompanied by the increase in computer power in terms of CPU and memory, allowing to obtain results in reasonable time.