Stress singularities produced by fluid structure interactions

Abstract

Essential for meaningful design for structural integrity is an appreciation of when stress singularities are present in structural configurations. While there is a rich literature devoted to the identification of such singular behavior in solid mechanics, to date there has been relatively little explicit identification of stress singularities caused by fluid flows. In this study, stress and pressure singularities induced by steady flows of viscous incompressible fluids are asymptotically identified. This is done by taking advantage of an earlier result that the NavierStokes equations are locally governed by Stokes flow in angular corners. Findings are confirmed by developing and using an analogy with solid mechanics, and by applying divergence checks to global numerical results. These flow-induced singularities render a number of structural configurations singular that were not previously appreciated as such from identifications within solid mechanics alone.