Simulation of forced deformable bodies interacting with two-dimensional incompressible flows: Application to fish-like swimming

Abstract

We present an efficient algorithm for simulation of deformable bodies interacting with two-dimensional incompressible fluid flows. The temporal and spatial discretizations of the Navier–Stokes equations in vorticity stream-function formulation are based on classical fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme and compact finite differences, respectively. Using a uniform Cartesian grid we benefit from the advantage of a new fourth-order direct solver for the Poisson equation to ensure the incompressibility constraint down to machine zero over an optimal grid. For introducing a deformable body in fluid flow, the volume penalization method is used. A Lagrangian structured grid with prescribed motion covers the deformable body which is interacting with the surrounding fluid due to the hydrodynamic forces and the torque calculated on the Eulerian reference grid. An efficient law for controlling the curvature of an anguilliform fish, swimming toward a prescribed goal, is proposed which is based on the geometrically exact theory of nonlinear beams and quaternions. Validation of the developed method shows the efficiency and expected accuracy of the algorithm for fish-like swimming and also for a variety of fluid/solid interaction problems.