A Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) for Coupled Thermal Analysis of Quasi and Fully Incompressible Flows and Fluid-Structure Interaction Problems

Abstract

We present a Lagrangian formulation for coupled thermal analysis of quasi and fully incompressible flows and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems that has excellent mass preservation features. The success of the formulation lays on a residual-based stabilized expression of the mass balance equation obtained using the Finite Calculus (FIC) method. The governing equations are discretized with the FEM using simplicial elements with equal linear interpolation for the velocities, the pressure and the temperature. The merits of the formulation in terms of reduced mass loss and overall accuracy are verified in the solution of 2D and 3D adiabatic and thermally-coupled quasi-incompressible free-surface flows and FSI problems using the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM). Examples include the sloshing of water in a tank and the falling of a water sphere and a cylinder into a tank containing water.