Simulation of wave–structure interaction by hybrid Cartesian/immersed boundary and arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian finite-element method

Abstract

This article aims to develop a Cartesian-grid-based numerical model to study the interaction between free-surface flow and stationary or oscillating immersed obstacle in a viscous fluid. To incorporate the effect of the free surface motion, an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) scheme is employed to accurately capture the configuration of free surface. To deal with the complex submerged obstacle in the fluid, a hybrid Cartesian/immersed boundary (HCIB) method is adopted, which allows easy implementation of the solid boundary conditions for a fixed structured grid. The two numerical techniques are combined to study the wave–structure interaction problems. The major merit of the proposed model is that the fluid grid is fixed throughout the computations during the transients, while the immersed body can move arbitrarily through the Cartesian grid. The meshes deform smoothly over the solid and free-surface boundaries, especially for representing sharp interface. There is no re-meshing process needed since this scheme only depends on the simple mesh generation to promote the efficiency of calculation. Some numerical examples are displayed respectively to validate the robustness and accuracy of the HCIB method, the ALE based finite-element scheme and their combinations. In addition, the other two numerical applications are carried out to simulate the wave–structure interaction with stationary and moving immersed body. In case studies some physical characteristics are also discussed for a range of amplitude of free-surface wave, Reynolds numbers and the proximity of structure under the liquid surface. The feasibility of the developed novel numerical model is shown through five numerical experiments.