Computer Simulations of Fluid-Structure Interaction Generated by a Flat-Blade Paddle in a Vessel Tank

Abstract

This paper presents a coupling method between the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and the computational structure dynamics (CSD) code solver for computing the trim of a flexible turbine in a vessel tank. It is applied in order to predict the equilibrium of elastic blade in fluid turbulent flow. Since the fluid and the structural models differ in their formulation and discretization, an interface model has to be introduced that represents the connectivity and physical interaction between the two single domain models. The structure is represented by finite elements and the related equations are solved using CSD code. The fluid flow is described by the three-dimensional Euler equations, solved by CFD code. The resulting coupled field problem containing the fluid and the structural state equations is solved by applying a coupling algorithm. In each solution step the interface and boundary conditions are exchanged and updated.