Numerical Study of Fluid-Structure Interaction with Application to Oscillating Cylinders

Abstract: The problem of fluid-structure interaction, occurring in many industrial and engineering applications, are of great importance, since interaction of a flow and a structure in it can lead to serious damages of the structure. The fluid-structure interaction gives rise to a variety of different physical phenomena such as flow-induced vibration, noise generation, etc. As an alternative to experimental investigations of fluid-structure interaction (FSI), numerical study can be applied. Simulations of FSI are associated with a number of numerical difficulties. One of those is related to the choice of computational grid. As an alternative to traditional grid approaches, a uniform Cartesian grid is considered. Since Cartesian grids are not body-fitted in the general case, some additional technique is needed to describe a solid boundary on a Cartesian grid. Two methods are utilized – the Volume of Solid (VOS) and a Virtual Boundary (VB). VOS is based on the Volume of Fluid method and represents a solid boundary by correction of viscosity in the interface cells. In VB the solid boundary is replaced by additional forces distributed in the domain around the interface. These methods need verification and further development to be applied to the wider range of engineering applications. The present study is focused on the application of the VOS and VB approaches to the problems of interaction of flow and a structure of complex shape. As a test case, a flow in laminar and turbulent regime past a stationary or moving solid circular cylinder is considered. Mainly, the flow around a circular cylinder confined in a rectangular channel is considered.