Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is a phenomenon generally encountered in nature,
such as in the cardiovascular system, swimming modes of fish-like organisms, and
flapping of insects. Proper understanding of this phenomenon is also important in
many engineering fields. The increasing trend of the use of thin flexible structures,
such as in long-span bridges, tall buildings, and light aerial vehicles, requires
accurate prediction of the FSI phenomenon since it can exhibit catastrophic failures
to the structures. This phenomenon can also be used for beneficial purposes, such
as for the flutter energy harvesting system. The interactions of the flow and the thin
flexible structures, however, are yet to be fully understood due to complex
behaviours governing the interactions and limitations in measuring and modeling
the systems.
In the present work, the fluid-structure interaction of flexible thin structures
undergoing large displacements is investigated through numerical simulations. A
new FSI algorithm is proposed to achieve this objective. This FSI algorithm is
developed via a partitioned approach. In this context, the flow is resolved using the
remeshed-Vortex Particle Method (R-VPM), whereas the response of the flexible
structure is evaluated using a FEM-based elastodynamics solver. The Vortex
Particle Method (VPM) has been considered an accurate and efficient
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool to simulate flow around complex
geometries. In this study, the existing remeshed-VPM is modified and extended
with new developments to enhance its applicability for complex FSI simulations of
thin flexible structures. In this context, the remeshed-VPM algorithm is combined
with the iterative Brinkman penalization method and a multiresolution scheme to
accurately enforce the boundary conditions on a thin immersed solid. A new force
formulation is developed, applicable to generate accurate distributed body forces
even though the iterative Brinkman penalization is employed.
The flow solver is coupled with an elastodynamics solver that can accurately
simulate the dynamic analysis of flexible thin structures undergoing large
displacements. In the present work, the structural dynamics is evaluated using
corotational beam formulation since it is simple, accurate, and efficient to solve
geometrically nonlinear structures. A consistent and energy-preserving two dimensional (2D) corotational beam formulation is employed to maintain accuracy
and stability for long-term FSI simulations. The novelty is the extension of this
approach from the two-dimensional (2D) formulation to a three-dimensional (3D)
formulation.
Both the flow solver and the structural solver are validated using a number of
popular benchmark problems available in the literature, both for 2D and 3D cases.
Comparisons between the simulation results with some numerical data show very
good agreement. The flow solver is more accurate and efficient than the pure
Lagrangian and standard remeshed-VPM since accurate results with great
efficiency can be achieved by the combination of the multiresolution scheme with
the iterative Brinkman penalization method. Regarding the structural solver, it is
concluded that it is more accurate and stable than the non-consistent and nonenergy-
conserving corotational formulation and its efficiency can be improved by
the use of the simplified version of the consistent corotational formulation.
The flow and structural solvers are coupled using a loosely coupled scheme and the
coupled FSI algorithm is validated on large-displacement FSI benchmark problems
such as cantilever oscillation due to vortex shedding from a square cylinder and
large amplitude flapping of an inverted flag in a uniform flow. The results are in
excellent agreement with some numerical simulations and experimental
measurements available in the literature. Due to the rich set of complex interactions
of the generated wake dynamics with the flexible inverted flag, the FSI solver is
further employed in a series of FSI simulations using this inverted flag model to
understand the physics governing these complex interactions. The proposed FSI
solver demonstrates its capability as a reliable means to study the physics of some
main modes of the inverted flag systems.
The original contributions of this work are: a new force formulation based on
corrected penalization velocity that is capable to generate distributed body forces,
applicable for both classical and iterative Brinkman penalization method; the
extension of the multiresolution scheme using patches to 3D remeshed-VPM; the
development and application of consistent and approximately energy-preserving
3D corotational beam formulation for nonlinear dynamics of highly flexible
structures; the development and application of a multiresolution scheme combined
with the iterative Brinkman penalization method for remeshed-VPM, both for 2D
and 3D flow and FSI applications; the applications of fully 3D remeshed-VPM
coupled with 3D consistent and energy-conserving corotational beam formulation
for FSI simulations of the inverted flag system; and the exposition of the flapping
mechanism of an inverted flag system.