A multiscale fluid structure interaction model derived from Koiter shell equations

Abstract

In this work we propose the numerical simulation of fluid structure interaction (FSI) problem by using a membrane model, derived from the Koiter shell equations. With this approach the thickness of the solid wall can be neglected, with a meaningful reduction of the computational cost of the numerical problem. The fluid structure problem is then reduced to the fluid equations on a moving mesh together with a particular Robin boundary condition imposed on the surface corresponding to the solid moving wall. Furthermore an artificial absorbing outflow boundary condition has been implemented in order to reduce the damping and reflections of the pressure waves at the domain’s outlet. This model is implemented and solved with an in-house finite elements code, and tested through axisymmetric cases that show the robustness of the developed algorithm. Finally, we report a comparison of the implemented model with results of a FSI monolithic model, based on non-linear incompressible structure.