A coupled immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method with smoothed point interpolation method for fluid‐structure interaction problems

The immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method has been verified to be an effective tool for fluid‐structure interaction simulation associated with thin and flexible bodies. The newly developed smoothed point interpolation method (S‐PIM) can handle the largely deformable solids owing to its softened model stiffness and insensitivity to mesh distortion. In this work, a novel coupled method has been proposed by combining the immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method with the S‐PIM for fluid‐structure interaction problems with large‐displacement solids. The proposed method preserves the simplicity of the lattice Boltzmann method for fluid solvers, utilizes the S‐PIM to establish the realistic constitutive laws for nonlinear solids, and avoids mesh regeneration based on the frame of the immersed boundary method. Both two‐ and three‐dimensional numerical examples have been carried out to validate the accuracy, convergence, and stability of the proposed method in consideration of comparative results with referenced solutions.     

Unified one‐fluid formulation for incompressible flexible solids and multiphase flows: Application to hydrodynamics using the immersed structural potential method (ISPM)

In this paper, we present a two‐dimensional computational framework for the simulation of fluid‐structure interaction problems involving incompressible flexible solids and multiphase flows, further extending the application range of classical immersed computational approaches to the context of hydrodynamics. The proposed method aims to overcome shortcomings such as the restriction of having to deal with similar density ratios among different phases or the restriction to solve single‐phase flows. First, a variation of classical immersed techniques, pioneered with the immersed boundary method (IBM), is presented by rearranging the governing equations, which define the behaviour of the multiple physics involved. The formulation is compatible with the “one‐fluid” formulation for two‐phase flows and can deal with large density ratios with the help of an anisotropic Poisson solver. Second, immersed deformable structures and fluid phases are modelled in an identical manner except for the computation of the deviatoric stresses. The numerical technique followed in this paper builds upon the immersed structural potential method developed by the authors, by adding a level set–based method for the capturing of the fluid‐fluid interfaces and an interface Lagrangian‐based meshless technique for the tracking of the fluid‐structure interface. The spatial discretisation is based on the standard marker‐and‐cell method used in conjunction with a fractional step approach for the pressure/velocity decoupling, a second‐order time integrator, and a fixed‐point iterative scheme. The paper presents a wide d range of two‐dimensional applications involving multiphase flows interacting with immersed deformable solids, including benchmarking against both experimental and alternative numerical schemes.     

Constrained moving least‐squares immersed boundary method for fluid‐structure interaction analysis

A numerical method is presented for the analysis of interactions of inviscid and compressible flows with arbitrarily shaped stationary or moving rigid solids. The fluid equations are solved on a fixed rectangular Cartesian grid by using a higher‐order finite difference method based on the fifth‐order WENO scheme. A constrained moving least‐squares sharp interface method is proposed to enforce the Neumann‐type boundary conditions on the fluid‐solid interface by using a penalty term, while the Dirichlet boundary conditions are directly enforced. The solution of the fluid flow and the solid motion equations is advanced in time by staggerly using, respectively, the third‐order Runge‐Kutta and the implicit Newmark integration schemes. The stability and the robustness of the proposed method have been demonstrated by analyzing 5 challenging problems. For these problems, the numerical results have been found to agree well with their analytical and numerical solutions available in the literature. Effects of the support domain size and values assigned to the penalty parameter on the stability and the accuracy of the present method are also discussed.     

A parallel monolithic algorithm for the numerical simulation of large‐scale fluid structure interaction problems

A novel parallel monolithic algorithm has been developed for the numerical simulation of large‐scale fluid structure interaction problems. The governing incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid domain are discretized using the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation‐based side‐centered unstructured finite volume method. The deformation of the solid domain is governed by the constitutive laws for the nonlinear Saint Venant–Kirchhoff material, and the classical Galerkin finite element method is used to discretize the governing equations in a Lagrangian frame. A special attention is given to construct an algorithm with exact total fluid volume conservation while obeying both the global and the local discrete geometric conservation law. The resulting large‐scale algebraic nonlinear equations are multiplied with an upper triangular right preconditioner that results in a scaled discrete Laplacian instead of a zero block in the original system. Then, a one‐level restricted additive Schwarz preconditioner with a block‐incomplete factorization within each partitioned sub‐domains is utilized for the modified system. The accuracy and performance of the proposed algorithm are verified for the several benchmark problems including a pressure pulse in a flexible circular tube, a flag interacting with an incompressible viscous flow, and so on. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluid–solid interaction problems with thermal convection using the immersed element‐free Galerkin method

In this work, the immersed element‐free Galerkin method (IEFGM) is proposed for the solution of fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems. In this technique, the FSI is represented as a volumetric force in the momentum equations. In IEFGM, a Lagrangian solid domain moves on top of an Eulerian fluid domain that spans over the entire computational region. The fluid domain is modeled using the finite element method and the solid domain is modeled using the element‐free Galerkin method. The continuity between the solid and fluid domains is satisfied by means of a local approximation, in the vicinity of the solid domain, of the velocity field and the FSI force. Such an approximation is achieved using the moving least‐squares technique. The method was applied to simulate the motion of a deformable disk moving in a viscous fluid due to the action of the gravitational force and the thermal convection of the fluid. An analysis of the main factors affecting the shape and trajectory of the solid body is presented. The method shows a distinct advantage for simulating FSI problems with highly deformable solids. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fictitious domain approach for numerical modelling of Navier–Stokes equations

This study investigates a fictitious domain model for the numerical solution of various incompressible viscous flows. It is based on the so‐called Navier–Stokes/Brinkman and energy equations with discontinuous coefficients all over an auxiliary embedding domain. The solid obstacles or walls are taken into account by a penalty technique. Some volumic control terms are directly introduced in the governing equations in order to prescribe immersed boundary conditions. The implicit numerical scheme, which uses an upwind finite volume method on staggered Cartesian grids, is of second‐order accuracy in time and space. A multigrid local mesh refinement is also implemented, using the multi‐level Zoom Flux Interface Correction (FIC) method, in order to increase the precision where it is needed in the domain. At each time step, some iterations of the augmented Lagrangian method combined with a preconditioned Krylov algorithm allow the divergence‐free velocity and pressure fields be solved for. The tested cases concern external steady or unsteady flows around a circular cylinder, heated or not, and the channel flow behind a backward‐facing step. The numerical results are shown in good agreement with other published numerical or experimental data. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fast and robust fictitious domain method for modelling viscous flows in complex mixers: The example of propellant make‐down

This work deals with the development of a fast three‐dimensional numerical strategy for the simulation of viscous fluid flow in complex mixing systems. The proposed method is based on a distributed Lagrange multiplier fictitious domain method and the use of the low‐cost MINI finite element. Contrary to the previous fictitious domain method developed by our group a few years ago, the underlying partial differential equations are solved here in a coupled manner using a consistent penalty technique. The method is discussed in detail and its precision is assessed by means of experimental data in the case of an agitated vessel. A comparison made with our existing fictitious domain method and its decoupled Uzawa‐based solver clearly shows the advantages of resorting to the MINI finite element and fully coupled solution strategy. The new technique is then applied to the simulation of the flow of a Newtonian viscous fluid in a three‐blade planetary mixer in the context of the production of solid propellants. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An immersed‐boundary finite‐volume method for direct simulation of flows with suspended paramagnetic particles

In the present study, we have proposed an immersed‐boundary finite‐volume method for the direct numerical simulation of flows with inertialess paramagnetic particles suspended in a nonmagnetic fluid under an external magnetic field without the need for any model such as the dipole–dipole interaction. In the proposed method, the magnetic field (or force) is described by the numerical solution of the Maxwell equation without current, where the smoothed representation technique is employed to tackle the discontinuity of magnetic permeability across the particle–fluid interface. The flow field, on the other hand, is described by the solution of the continuity and momentum equations, where the discrete‐forcing‐based immersed‐boundary method is employed to satisfy the no‐slip condition at the interface. To validate the method, we performed numerical simulations on the two‐dimensional motion of two and three paramagnetic particles in a nonmagnetic fluid subjected to an external uniform magnetic field and then compared the results with the existing finite‐element and semi‐analytical solutions. Comparison shows that the proposed method is robust in the direct simulation of such magnetic particulate flows. This method can be extended to more general flows without difficulty: three‐dimensional particulate flows, flows with a great number of particles, or flows under an arbitrary external magnetic field. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving the CBS‐based partitioned semi‐implicit coupling algorithm for fluid‐structure interaction

We detail in this work 2 simple but effective alternatives to improve the characteristic‐based split–based partitioned semi‐implicit coupling algorithm for fluid‐structure interaction. The basic idea lies in introducing the end‐of‐step velocity into the implicit stages of the 2 algorithms integrating different splits. The algorithm built upon the second‐order pressure split is further stabilized via the pressure gradient projection with particular emphasis on the extremely low mass ratio. The smoothed finite element method is exploited for spatial discretization of fluid and solid equations. Even without any accelerators, both the semi‐implicit solvers incorporating fixed‐point iterations engender visible improvements versus the previously published data for several benchmarks.     

Flow simulation on moving boundary‐fitted grids and application to fluid–structure interaction problems

We present a method for the parallel numerical simulation of transient three‐dimensional fluid–structure interaction problems. Here, we consider the interaction of incompressible flow in the fluid domain and linear elastic deformation in the solid domain. The coupled problem is tackled by an approach based on the classical alternating Schwarz method with non‐overlapping subdomains, the subproblems are solved alternatingly and the coupling conditions are realized via the exchange of boundary conditions. The elasticity problem is solved by a standard linear finite element method. A main issue is that the flow solver has to be able to handle time‐dependent domains. To this end, we present a technique to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equation in three‐dimensional domains with moving boundaries. This numerical method is a generalization of a finite volume discretization using curvilinear coordinates to time‐dependent coordinate transformations. It corresponds to a discretization of the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations. Here the grid velocity is treated in such a way that the so‐called Geometric Conservation Law is implicitly satisfied. Altogether, our approach results in a scheme which is an extension of the well‐known MAC‐method to a staggered mesh in moving boundary‐fitted coordinates which uses grid‐dependent velocity components as the primary variables. To validate our method, we present some numerical results which show that second‐order convergence in space is obtained on moving grids. Finally, we give the results of a fully coupled fluid–structure interaction problem. It turns out that already a simple explicit coupling with one iteration of the Schwarz method, i.e. one solution of the fluid problem and one solution of the elasticity problem per time step, yields a convergent, simple, yet efficient overall method for fluid–structure interaction problems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative study of lattice Boltzmann methods using bounce‐back schemes and immersed boundary ones for flow acoustic problems

In order to find applicable treatments of moving boundary conditions based on the lattice Boltzmann method in flow acoustic problems, three bounce‐back (BB) methods and four kinds of immersed boundary (IB) methods are compared. We focused on fluid–solid boundary conditions for flow acoustic problems especially the simulations of sound waves from moving boundaries. BB methods include link bounce‐back, interpolation bounce‐back and unified interpolation bounce‐back methods. Five IB methods are explicit and implicit direct‐forcing (Explicit‐IB and Implicit‐IB), two kinds of partially saturated computational methods and ghost fluid method. In order to reduce the spurious pressure generated by the fresh grid node changing from solid domain to fluid domain for BB methods and sharp IB methods, we proposed two new kinds of treatments and compared them with two existing ones. Simulations of the benchmark problems prove that the local evolutionary iteration (LI) is the best one in treatments of the fresh nodes. In addition, for standing boundary problems, although BB methods have a little higher accuracy, all the methods have similar accuracy. However, for moving boundary problems, IB methods are more appropriate than BB methods, because IB methods' smooth interpolation of pressure eld produces less disturbing spurious pressure waves. With improved treatments of fresh nodes, BB methods are also acceptable for moving boundary acoustic problems. In comparative tests in respective type, unified interpolation bounce‐back with LI, Implicit‐IB, and ghost fluid with LI are the best choices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid immersed‐boundary and multi‐block lattice Boltzmann method for simulating fluid and moving‐boundaries interactions

A numerical method is developed for modelling the interactions between incompressible viscous fluid and moving boundaries. The principle of this method is introducing the immersed‐boundary concept in the framework of the lattice Boltzmann method, and improving the accuracy and efficiency of the simulation by refining the mesh near moving boundaries. Besides elastic boundary with a constitutive law, the method can also efficiently simulate solid moving‐boundary interacting with fluid by employing the direct forcing technique. The method is validated by the simulations of flow past a circular cylinder, two cylinders moving with respect to each other and flow around a hovering wing. The versatility of the method is demonstrated by the numerical studies including elastic filament flapping in the wake of a cylinder and fish‐like bodies swimming in quiescent fluid. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A meshless method for numerical simulation of depth‐averaged turbulence flows using a k‐ϵ model

A three‐dimensional numerical model is developed to analyze free surface flows and water impact problems. The flow of an incompressible viscous fluid is solved using the unsteady Navier–Stokes equations. Pseudo‐time derivatives are introduced into the equations to improve computational efficiency. The interface between the two phases is tracked using a volume‐of‐fluid interface tracking algorithm developed in a generalized curvilinear coordinate system. The accuracy of the volume‐of‐fluid method is first evaluated by the multiple numerical benchmark tests, including two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional deformation cases on curvilinear grids. The performance and capability of the numerical model for water impact problems are demonstrated by simulations of water entries of the free‐falling hemisphere and cone, based on comparisons of water impact loadings, velocities, and penetrations of the body with experimental data. For further validation, computations of the dam‐break flows are presented, based on an analysis of the wave front propagation, water level, and the dynamic pressure impact of the waves on the downstream walls, on a specific container, and on a tall structure. Extensive comparisons between the obtained solutions, the experimental data, and the results of other numerical simulations in the literature are presented and show a good agreement. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of highly accurate interpolation method for mesh‐free flow simulations II. Application of CIVA method to incompressible flow simulations

This is the second report on the development of a highly accurate interpolation method, which is called cubic interpolation with volume/area (CIVA) co‐ordinates, for mesh‐free flow simulations. In this paper, the method of determining the c‐parameter of CIVA using a constant curvature condition is first considered for the two‐ and three‐dimensional cases. A computation of a three‐dimensional passive scalar advection problem is performed for accuracy verification and for comparison with widely used methods. Then, an application algorithm of the CIVA method respecting incompressible fluid simulation is presented. As the incompressible condition based on Lagrangian approaches causes problems, in this paper we consider the condition based on the conventional Eulerian approach. The CIVA‐based incompressible flow simulation algorithm enables a highly accurate simulation of many kinds of problems that have complicated geometries and involve complicated phenomena. To confirm the facts, numerical analyzes are executed for some benchmark problems, namely flow in a square cavity, free surface sloshing and moving boundary problems in complex geometries. The results show that the method achieves high accuracy and has high flexibility, even for the flows involving high Reynolds number, complicated geometries, moving boundaries and free surfaces. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of a preconditioned high‐order accurate artificial compressibility‐based incompressible flow solver in wide range of Reynolds numbers

In the present study, the preconditioned incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations with the artificial compressibility method formulated in the generalized curvilinear coordinates are numerically solved by using a high‐order compact finite‐difference scheme for accurately and efficiently computing the incompressible flows in a wide range of Reynolds numbers. A fourth‐order compact finite‐difference scheme is utilized to accurately discretize the spatial derivative terms of the governing equations, and the time integration is carried out based on the dual time‐stepping method. The capability of the proposed solution methodology for the computations of the steady and unsteady incompressible viscous flows from very low to high Reynolds numbers is investigated through the simulation of different 2‐dimensional benchmark problems, and the results obtained are compared with the existing analytical, numerical, and experimental data. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to evaluate the effects of the size of the computational domain and other numerical parameters on the accuracy and performance of the solution algorithm. The present solution procedure is also extended to 3 dimensions and applied for computing the incompressible flow over a sphere. Indications are that the application of the preconditioning in the solution algorithm together with the high‐order discretization method in the generalized curvilinear coordinates provides an accurate and robust solution method for simulating the incompressible flows over practical geometries in a wide range of Reynolds numbers including the creeping flows.     

Development of a three-dimensional solver based on the local domain-free discretization and immersed boundary method and its application for incompressible flow problems

Recently, the author and two other coauthors have proposed a two-dimensional hybrid local domain-free discretization and immersed boundary method (LDFD-IBM), which can be used to solve the flow problem with complex geometries. In this paper, the LDFD-IBM is extended to solve a three-dimensional unsteady incompressible flow with the complex computational domain. The technical issues related to the implementation of the LDFD-IBM in three-dimensional problems are discussed in detail, particularly for the discretization of Navier-Stokes equations, mesh strategies for a three-dimensional flow, and the fast algorithm on the identification of the status of mesh nodes (ie, to identify if the mesh node is located in the solid domain, in the fluid domain, or near the immersed boundary). Numerical tests show that the LDFD-IBM can accurately solve three-dimensional incompressible problems with ease.     

A fixed‐grid b‐spline finite element technique for fluid–structure interaction

We present a fixed‐grid finite element technique for fluid–structure interaction problems involving incompressible viscous flows and thin structures. The flow equations are discretised with isoparametric b‐spline basis functions defined on a logically Cartesian grid. In addition, the previously proposed subdivision‐stabilisation technique is used to ensure inf–sup stability. The beam equations are discretised with b‐splines and the shell equations with subdivision basis functions, both leading to a rotation‐free formulation. The interface conditions between the fluid and the structure are enforced with the Nitsche technique. The resulting coupled system of equations is solved with a Dirichlet–Robin partitioning scheme, and the fluid equations are solved with a pressure–correction method. Auxiliary techniques employed for improving numerical robustness include the level‐set based implicit representation of the structure interface on the fluid grid, a cut‐cell integration algorithm based on marching tetrahedra and the conservative data transfer between the fluid and structure discretisations. A number of verification and validation examples, primarily motivated by animal locomotion in air or water, demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of our approach. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of flow‐flexible body interactions with large deformation

A modified front‐tracking method was proposed for the simulation of fluid‐flexible body interactions with large deformations. A large deformable body was modeled by restructuring the body using a grid adaptation. Discontinuities in the viscosity at the fluid‐structure interface were incorporated by distributing the viscosity across the interface using an indicator function. A viscosity gradient field was created near the interface, and a smooth transition occurred between the structure and the fluid. The fluid motion was defined on the Eulerian domain and was solved using the fractional step method on a staggered Cartesian grid system. The solid motion was described by Lagrangian variables and was solved by the finite element method on an unstructured triangular mesh. The fluid motion and the structure motion were independently solved, and their interaction force was calculated using a feedback law. The interaction force was the restoring force of a stiff spring with damping, and spread from the Lagrangian coordinates to the Eulerian grid by a smoothed approximation of the Dirac delta function. In the numerical simulations, we validated the effect of the grid adaptation on the solid solver using a vibrating circular ring. The effects of the viscosity gradient field were verified by solving the deformation of a circular disk in a linear shear flow, including an elastic ring moving through a channel with constriction, deformation of a suspended catenary, and a swimming jellyfish. A comparison of the numerical results with the theoretical solutions was presented. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical modeling of flow past a volumeless and thin rigid body using direct forcing immersed boundary method

The new capability has been added as the numerical method for modeling volumeless and thin rigid bodies to the direct forcing immersed boundary (DFIB) method. The DFIB approach is based on adding a virtual force to the Navier–Stokes equations of incompressible flow to account for the interaction between the fluid and structures. The volume of a solid function (VOS) identifies the stationary or moving solid structures in a given fluid domain. A new VOS-based algorithm was developed to identify thin, rigid structure boundary points in fluid flow and ensure that the fluid cannot cross through the boundary of a thin rigid structure while moving or stationary. The DFIB method was first validated in a three-dimensional (3D) turbulent flow over a circular cylinder. The large-eddy simulation simulated the turbulent flow scales. The proposed algorithm was tested using a 3D turbulent flow past a stationary and rotating Savonius wind turbine that functions as a thin, rigid body. The validation results showed that the selected DFIB approach, combined with the novel algorithm, could simulate a thin, volumeless, rigid structure that is stationary and rotating in incompressible turbulent flows. The current method is also applicable for two-way fluid-structure interaction problems.     

An improved immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method based on force correction technique

In this paper, an improved immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann method based on the force correction technique is presented for fluid‐structure interaction problems including the moving boundary interfaces. By introducing a force correction coefficient, the non‐slip boundary conditions are much better enforced compared with the conventional immersed boundary‐lattice Boltzmann methods. In addition, the implicit and iterative calculations are avoided; thus, the computational cost is reduced dramatically. Several numerical experiments are carried out to test the efficiency of the method. It is found that the method has the second‐order accuracy, and the non‐slip boundary conditions are enforced indeed. The numerical results also show that the present method is a suitable tool for fluid‐structure interaction problems involving complex moving boundaries.