Numerical modelling of aeroelastic behaviour of an airfoil in viscous incompressible flow

In this paper, the problem of the numerical approximation of a two-dimensional incompressible viscous fluid flow interacting with a flexible structure is considered. Due to high Reynolds numbers in the range 10⁴ − 10⁶ the turbulent character of the flow is considered and modelled with the aid of Reynolds equations coupled with the k − ω turbulence model. The structure motion is described by a system of ordinary differential equations for three degrees of freedom: vertical displacement, rotation and rotation of the aileron. The problem is discretized in space by the Galerkin Least-Squares stabilized finite element method and the computational domain is treated with the aid of Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method.