A robust formulation for solving fluid-structure interaction problems

 In this article, a coupled finite element and boundary element approach for the acoustic radiation and scattering from submerged elastic bodies of arbitrary shape is presented. An alternative to the direct boundary element method for acoustics is proposed. By taking an auxiliary source surface inside the radiating boundary and following the usual discretization and integration procedures employed in the boundary element method, both the singularities of the integrands and the nonuniqueness problems do not arise. In addition, the difficulty of slope discontinuity also can be overcome. This procedure is formulated in a similar fashion of wave superposition method, except that the direct boundary integral equations are adopted. The proposed formulation employ the surface Helmholtz integral equation and its normal gradient like that adopted in the Burton–Miller approach, but do not employ any coupling constant. Typical examples are presented that demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed technique. Received 9 April 2000