Two dimensional shallow-water flow model with immersed boundary method

This study demonstrates an immersed boundary (IB) method which integrates a depth-averaged two dimensional flow model is proposed to tackle a typical fluid-solid phase problem in fluid dynamics field. The finite-difference scheme with curvilinear coordinate system is employed to discretize the shallow-water flow equations. Lagrangian markers and Eulerian grid are applied to portray the geometric contour of interior boundary and discretize the flow domain, respectively. The Dirac delta function is accordingly conducted to link both Lagrangian and Eulerian coordinate systems. The numerical simulations of single pier are performed and compared to examine the effect of marker’s mesh width, grid size, and the various Dirac delta functions. Experimental data from literatures are compared with numerical results to justify the validity of the proposed IB model. To further demonstrate the model capability, the model is applied to the hypothetical cases of piers in parallel, and compared with theoretical results.     

On the stability of the finite element immersed boundary method

The immersed boundary (IB) method is a mathematical formulation for fluid–structure interaction problems, where immersed incompressible visco-elastic bodies or boundaries interact with an incompressible fluid.The original numerical scheme associated to the IB method requires a smoothed approximation of the Dirac delta distribution to link the moving Lagrangian domain with the fixed Eulerian one.We present a stability analysis of the finite element immersed boundary method, where the Dirac delta distribution is treated variationally, in a generalized visco-elastic framework and for two different time-stepping schemes.     

A collocated finite volume embedding method for simulation of flow past stationary and moving body

A simple and conservative numerical scheme is introduced in this paper to simulate unsteady flow around stationary and moving body. Based on the embedding method (immersed boundary (IB) + volume of fluid (VOF)) implemented in the finite-volume framework, flow past the arbitrarily complex geometry can be readily computed on any existing mesh system. Flow variables stored at cell centers, including those residing within the immersed body, are computed where the induced effect on the flow due to the immersed body is realised via a simple acceleration term (forcing function) derived based on the VOF value. In the current work, an identical VOF value is used for all momentum equations, in contrast to that of the pre-existing method, whereby numerical interpolation is required. The method is verified with a number of flow cases, including flow in a 2D square cavity, flow past a stationary and oscillating cylinder and flow induced by a flapping ellipse in an enclosure.     

A novel immersed boundary procedure for flow and heat simulations with moving boundary

This article describes a novel immersed boundary procedure for computing the flow and heat transfer problems with moving and complex boundary. Although the immersed boundary techniques have been successfully implemented to these flow and heat simulations, a frequently encountered drawback of this method is the relatively low accuracy proximate to the boundary due to the spreading of forcing function or the interpolation scheme. In this study, we propose a moving-grid process under the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian framework to reduce the numerical diffusion near the immersed boundary. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are discretized spatially using unstructured finite element method, and advanced temporally by an operator-splitting scheme. The methodology is validated by the simulations of flow induced by an oscillating cylinder in a free stream. The capability of the proposed method is further demonstrated by good predictions of flow passing the rotating fan in a channel and also flow driven by two independent rotating fans in a circular cavity.     

Simulating flows with moving rigid boundary using immersed-boundary method

The present study is to apply the immersed-boundary method to simulate 2- and 3-D viscous incompressible flows interacting with moving solid boundaries. Previous studies indicated that for stationary-boundary problems, different treatments inside the solid body did not affect the external flow. However, the relationship between internal treatment of the solid body and external flow for moving-boundary problems was not studied extensively and is investigated here. This is achieved via direct-momentum forcing on a Cartesian grid by combining “solid-body forcing” at solid nodes and interpolation on neighboring fluid nodes. The influence of the solid body forcing within the solid nodes is first examined by computing flow induced by an oscillating cylinder in a stationary square domain, where significantly lower amplitude oscillations in computed lift and drag coefficients are obtained compared with those without solid-body-forcing strategy. Grid-function convergence tests also indicate second-order accuracy of this implementation with respect to the L¹ norm in time and the L² norm in space. Further test problems are simulated to examine the validity of the present technique: 2-D flows over an asymmetrically-placed cylinder in a channel, in-line oscillating cylinder in a fluid at rest, in-line oscillating cylinder in a free stream, two cylinders moving with respect to one another, and 3-D simulation of a sphere settling under gravity in a static fluid. All computed results are in generally good agreement with various experimental measurements and with previous numerical simulations. This indicates the capability of the present simple implementation in solving complex-geometry flow problems and the importance of solid body forcing in computing flows with moving solid objects.     

Incompressible flow computations over moving boundary using a novel upwind method

In this paper a novel method for simulating unsteady incompressible viscous flow over a moving boundary is described. The numerical model is based on a 2D Navier–Stokes incompressible flow in artificial compressibility formulation with Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian approach for moving grid and dual time stepping approach for time accurate discretization. A higher order unstructured finite volume scheme, based on a Harten Lax and van Leer with Contact (HLLC) type Riemann solver for convective fluxes, developed for steady incompressible flow in artificial compressibility formulation by Mandal and Iyer (AIAA paper 2009-3541), is extended to solve unsteady flows over moving boundary. Viscous fluxes are discretized in a central differencing manner based on Coirier’s diamond path. An algorithm based on interpolation with radial basis functions is used for grid movements. The present numerical scheme is validated for an unsteady channel flow with a moving indentation. The present numerical results are found to agree well with experimental results reported in literature.     

Incompressible moving boundary flows with the finite volume particle method

Mesh-free methods offer the potential for greatly simplified modeling of flow with moving walls and phase interfaces. The finite volume particle method (FVPM) is a mesh-free technique based on interparticle fluxes which are exactly analogous to intercell fluxes in the mesh-based finite volume method. Consequently, the method inherits many of the desirable properties of the classical finite volume method, including implicit conservation and a natural introduction of boundary conditions via appropriate flux terms. In this paper, we describe the extension of FVPM to incompressible viscous flow with moving boundaries. An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian approach is used, in conjunction with the mesh-free discretisation, to facilitate a straightforward treatment of moving bodies. Non-uniform particle distribution is used to concentrate computational effort in regions of high gradients. The underlying method for viscous incompressible flow is validated for a lid-driven cavity problem at Reynolds numbers of 100 and 1000. To validate the simulation of moving boundaries, flow around a translating cylinder at Reynolds numbers of 20, 40 and 100 is modeled. Results for pressure distribution, surface forces and vortex shedding frequency are in good agreement with reference data from the literature and with FVPM results for an equivalent flow around a stationary cylinder. These results establish the capability of FVPM to simulate large wall motions accurately in an entirely mesh-free framework.     

Using integral equations and the immersed interface method to solve immersed boundary problems with stiff forces

We propose a fast, explicit numerical method for computing approximations for the immersed boundary problem in which the boundaries that separate the fluid into two regions are stiff. In the numerical computations of such problems, one frequently has to contend with numerical instability, as the stiff immersed boundaries exert large forces on the local fluid. When the boundary forces are treated explicitly, prohibitively small time-steps may be required to maintain numerical stability. On the other hand, when the boundary forces are treated implicitly, the restriction on the time-step size is reduced, but the solution of a large system of coupled non-linear equations may be required. In this work, we develop an efficient method that combines an integral equation approach with the immersed interface method. The present method treats the boundary forces explicitly. To reduce computational costs, the method uses an operator-splitting approach: large time-steps are used to update the non-stiff advection terms, and smaller substeps are used to advance the stiff boundary. At each substep, an integral equation is computed to yield fluid velocity local to the boundary; those velocity values are then used to update the boundary configuration. Fluid variables are computed over the entire domain, using the immersed interface method, only at the end of the large advection time-steps. Numerical results suggest that the present method compares favorably with an implementation of the immersed interface method that employs an explicit time-stepping and no fractional stepping.     

A fast immersed interface method for solving Stokes flows on irregular domains

We present a fast immersed interface method for solving the steady Stokes flows involving the rigid boundaries. The immersed rigid boundary is represented by a set of Lagrangian control points. In order to enforce the prescribed velocity at the rigid boundary, singular forces at the rigid boundary are applied on the fluid. The forces are related to the jumps in pressure and the jumps in the derivatives of both pressure and velocity, and are approximated using the cubic splines. The strength of singular forces is determined by solving a small system of equations via the GMRES method. The Stokes equations are discretized using finite difference method with the incorporation of jump conditions on a staggered Cartesian grid and solved by the conjugate gradient Uzawa-type method. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and ability of the proposed method to simulate Stokes flows on irregular domains.     

Behaviour of an immersed boundary method in unsteady flows over sharp-edged bodies

The behaviour of the immersed boundary method proposed by Goldstein et al. [Goldstein D, Handler R, Sirovich L. Modelling a no-slip boundary condition with an external force field. J Comput Phys 1993;105:354-66] as a second-order damped control system is investigated. The natural frequency and the damping coefficient are introduced as driving parameters of the method. The comparison between the velocity response at forced points in the startup flow over a square cylinder with the theoretical response of a second-order damped oscillator is performed. The role of each parameter appears clearly. At the beginning of the startup flow, the response time depends directly on the natural frequency, and this parameter determines the level of residual velocities achieved in an unsteady flow. The damping coefficient drives the oscillation of the velocity response at the beginning of the startup flow, but has negligible influence during the establishment and in the unsteady flow. At forced points facing no unsteady perturbation from the flow, the zero-velocity set point is reached asymptotically, as usual in second-order damped-systems. Through the simulation of the flow over a blunt flat plat at Re=1000, it is observed that the initial thickness of the mixing layer due to the separation at the edge may vary during the simulation because the sharpness of the edge increases as the residual velocities decrease. This insight gained on the behaviour of the response allows a time-step optimisation, which, completed with comparisons to reference literature results, confirms the feedback forcing method a competitive tool for accessing near-wall unsteady flow over sharp-edged bodies.     

An immersed boundary approach for shape and topology optimization of stationary fluid-structure interaction problems

This paper presents an approach to shape and topology optimization of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems at steady state. The overall approach builds on an immersed boundary method that couples a Lagrangian formulation of the structure to an Eulerian fluid model, discretized on a deforming mesh. The geometry of the fluid-structure boundary is manipulated by varying the nodal parameters of a discretized level set field. This approach allows for topological changes of the fluid-structure interface, but free-floating volumes of solid material can emerge in the course of the optimization process. The free-floating volumes are tracked and modeled as fluid in the FSI analysis. To sense the isolated solid volumes, an indicator field described by linear, isotropic diffusion is computed prior to analyzing the FSI response of a design. The fluid is modeled with the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, and the structure is assumed linear elastic. The FSI model is discretized by an extended finite element method, and the fluid-structure coupling conditions are enforced weakly. The resulting nonlinear system of equations is solved monolithically with Newton’s method. The design sensitivities are computed by the adjoint method and the optimization problem is solved by a gradient-based algorithm. The characteristics of this optimization framework are studied with two-dimensional problems at steady state. Numerical results indicate that the proposed treatment of free-floating volumes introduces a discontinuity in the design evolution, yet the method is still successful in converging to meaningful designs.     

Effect of internal mass in the simulation of a moving body by the immersed boundary method

We investigate the effect of internal mass in the simulation of a moving body by the immersed boundary method. In general, the force and the torque acting on the body are influenced by the internal mass, if they are obtained by the negative of the sum of body forces which are applied near the boundary in order to enforce the no-slip condition on the boundary. In this study, the following schemes for approximating the internal mass effect are introduced; no internal mass effect, rigid body approximation, and Lagrangian points approximation. By comparing these schemes through the simulations of a moving body, we examine the internal mass effect. The simulations of the flow around an oscillating circular cylinder and of the sedimentations of an elliptical cylinder and a sphere are performed by using an immersed boundary–lattice Boltzmann method, and it is found that the internal mass effect is significant to unsteady body motions for the Reynolds numbers over 10 and grows as the Reynolds number increases. We also find that for the angular motions of the body, the rigid body approximation causes errors for the rotational Reynolds numbers over 10.     

Finite elements for fluid–structure interaction in ALE and fully Eulerian coordinates

In this work we describe and compare two monolithic models for fluid–structure interaction problems: First, the well-established ALE model using natural Lagrangian coordinates for the structural model and using an artificial coordinate system for the flow problem. Then, a novel approach, the fully Eulerian coordinates, where both subproblems, structure and fluid are given in Eulerian coordinates. The approaches have in common that a closed variational formulation exists. This allows the use of implicit solution schemes, goal oriented error estimation and gradient based optimization algorithms.Aim of this work is the introduction and verification of the novel fully Eulerian model for stationary fluid–structure interaction problems.     

A direct-forcing immersed boundary method for the thermal lattice Boltzmann method

In this study, a direct-forcing immersed boundary method (IBM) for thermal lattice Boltzmann method (TLBM) is proposed to simulate the non-isothermal flows. The direct-forcing IBM formulas for thermal equations are derived based on two TLBM models: a double-population model with a simplified thermal lattice Boltzmann equation (Model 1) and a hybrid model with an advection–diffusion equation of temperature (Model 2). As an interface scheme, which is required due to a mismatch between boundary and computational grids in the IBM, the sharp interface scheme based on second-order bilinear and linear interpolations (instead of the diffuse interface scheme, which uses discrete delta functions) is adopted to obtain the more accurate results. The proposed methods are validated through convective heat transfer problems with not only stationary but also moving boundaries – the natural convection in a square cavity with an eccentrically located cylinder and a cold particle sedimentation in an infinite channel. In terms of accuracy, the results from the IBM based on both models are comparable and show a good agreement with those from other numerical methods. In contrast, the IBM based on Model 2 is more numerically efficient than the IBM based on Model 1.     

Calculation of hydrodynamic forces acting on a submerged moving object using immersed boundary method

General formulae are derived to calculate the hydrodynamic force acting on a solid object, either stationary or in motion, when an immersed boundary (IB) method is used to simulate the flow around the object. These formulae explore the fact that the imposed force term in the IB method contributes to the force applied by the object on the external fluid as well as the unsteady flow inside the virtual domain which is occupied by the object. These formulae are particularly important when the object in unsteady motion is solved in an inertial coordinate system. The formulae are adopted in the present two-dimensional (2D) numerical model, in which a SIMPLEC-type two-step computational scheme is introduced to solve the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations. Several case studies, including the simulation of the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a circular cylinder, are carried out in this work. The agreement of the predicted results with the experimental and numerical data reported by other researchers proves the significance of these formulae.     

Immersed boundary method and lattice Boltzmann method coupled FSI simulation of mitral leaflet flow

Coupling the immersed boundary (IB) method and the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method might be a promising approach to simulate fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems with flexible structures and moving boundaries. To investigate the possibility for future IB-LB coupled simulations of the heart flow dynamics, an IB-LB coupling scheme suitable for rapid boundary motion and large pressure gradient FSI is proposed, and the mitral valve jet flow considering the interaction of leaflets and fluid is simulated. After analyzing the respective concepts, formulae and advantages of the IB and LB methods, we first explain the coupling strategy and detailed implementation procedures, and then verify the effectiveness and second-order accuracy of the scheme by simulating a benchmark case, the relaxation of a stretched membrane immersed in fluid. After that, the diastolic filling jet flow between mitral leaflets in a simplified 2D left heart model is simulated. The model consists of the simplified transmitral passage of the heart and two curvilinear leaflets. In the simulation, the atrial and ventricular pressure histories of normal human are specified as boundary conditions, and the leaflets are treated as fibers that interact with the fluid to define their deformations and movements. The resulting opening and closing movements of the leaflets and the flow patterns of the filling jet are qualitatively reasonable and compare well with existing numerical and measured data. It is shown that this IB-LB coupling method is feasible for treating flexible boundary FSI problems with rapid boundary motion and large pressure gradient, the results of the mitral leaflet flow are valuable for understanding the transmitral FSI dynamics, and it is possible to simulate the more realistic 3D heart flow by the scheme in the future.     

A volume-of-fluid method for simulation of compressible axisymmetric multi-material flow

A two-dimensional Eulerian hydrodynamic method for the numerical simulation of inviscid compressible axisymmetric multi-material flow in external force fields for the situation of pure fluids separated by macroscopic interfaces is presented. The method combines an implicit Lagrangian step with an explicit Eulerian advection step. Individual materials obey separate energy equations, fulfill general equations of state, and may possess different temperatures. Material volume is tracked using a piecewise linear volume-of-fluid method. An overshoot-free logically simple and economic material advection algorithm for cylinder coordinates is derived, in an algebraic formulation. New aspects arising in the case of more than two materials such as the material ordering strategy during transport are presented. One- and two-dimensional numerical examples are given.     

Euler–Lagrange coupling with damping effects: Application to slamming problems

During a high velocity impact of a structure on a nearly incompressible fluid, impulse loads with high-pressure peaks occur. This physical phenomenon called ‘slamming’ is a concern in shipbuilding industry because of the possibility of hull damage. Shipbuilding companies have carried out several studies on slamming modeling using FEM software with added mass techniques to represent fluid effects. In the added mass method inertia effects of the fluid are not taken into account and are only valid when the deadrise angle is small. This paper presents the prediction of the local high pressure load on a rigid wedge impacting a free surface, where the fluid is represented by solving Navier–Stokes equations with an Eulerian or ALE formulation. The fluid–structure interaction is simulated using a coupling algorithm; the fluid is treated on a fixed or moving mesh using an ALE formulation and the structure on a deformable mesh using a Lagrangian formulation.A new coupling algorithm is developed in the paper. The coupling algorithm computes the coupling forces at the fluid–structure interface. These forces are added to the fluid and structure nodal forces, where fluid and structure are solved using an explicit finite element formulation. Predicting the local pressure peak on the structure requires an accurate fluid–structure interaction algorithm. The Euler–Lagrange coupling algorithm presented in this paper uses a penalty based formulation similar to penalty contact in Lagrangian analyses. Both penalty coupling and penalty contact can generate high frequency oscillations due to the nearly incompressible nature of the fluid. In this paper, a damping force based on the relative velocity of the fluid and the structure is introduced to smooth out non-physical high frequency oscillations induced by the penalty springs in the coupling algorithm.     

A non-reflecting boundary in fluid-structure interaction

A very efficient non-reflecting boundary condition is derived for the seismic response analysis of a submerged structure, such as a dam or an offshore structure, interacting with a compressible fluid domain of unbounded extent. The fluid-structure system is assumed to be two-dimensional and the analysis is conducted in the frequency domain. In the finite element discretization, pressure and displacements are considered to be the basic nodal unknowns for the fluid domain and the structure, respectively. The implementation of the proposed boundary condition in any existing finite element code, based on such a formulation, is extremely simple. Some fluid-structure systems are analysed to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.