A comparative study of interpolation algorithms on non-matching meshes for PFEM-FEM fluid-structure interactions

Abstract

In simulations involving fluid-structure interactions, the partitioned coupling approach allows calculating the fluid flow and the structural displacement using different solvers, which are coupled by a structure-to-fluid algorithm. This partitioned scheme can result in non-conforming meshes at the solid-fluid interface, especially when the fluid and the structure meshes contain elements of different characteristic sizes. In this context, a mesh-interpolation technique is required to transmit the nodal information from one mesh to the other. This paper focuses on comparing radial basis functions and k-nearest neighbours interpolations on fluid-structure interaction test cases. Indeed, those are fast and flexible techniques requiring no topological information other than relative distances between nodes, allowing a straightforward transfer of nodal data between non-conforming meshes. This feature is particularly favourable in the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM), where remeshing procedures result in significant changes of the finite element discretisation at the fluid-structure interface. Accordingly, our contribution compares the interpolations in a PFEM/FEM partitioned scheme, using 2D and 3D benchmark problems.