Eulerian Method for fluid-structure interaction and submerged solid-solid contact problems

We introduce an Eulerian approach for problems involving one or more soft solids immersed in a fluid, which permits mechanical interactions between all phases. The reference map variable is exploited to simulate finite-deformation constitutive relations in the solid(s) on the same fixed grid as the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Valkov, Boris, Rycroft, Chris H., Kamrin, Kenneth N.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: ASME International 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97527
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5154-9787
Description
Summary:We introduce an Eulerian approach for problems involving one or more soft solids immersed in a fluid, which permits mechanical interactions between all phases. The reference map variable is exploited to simulate finite-deformation constitutive relations in the solid(s) on the same fixed grid as the fluid phase, which greatly simplifies the coupling between phases. Our coupling procedure, a key contribution in the current work, is shown to be computationally faster and more stable than an earlier approach and admits the ability to simulate both fluid–solid and solid–solid interaction between submerged bodies. The interface treatment is demonstrated with multiple examples involving a weakly compressible Navier–Stokes fluid interacting with a neo-Hookean solid, and we verify the method's convergence. The solid contact method, which exploits distance-measures already existing on the grid, is demonstrated with two examples. A new, general routine for cross-interface extrapolation is introduced and used as part of the new interfacial treatment.