Numerical Model for the Analysis of Fluid-Structure Interaction Problems with Cable Coupling

Abstract

The present work proposes the development of numerical tools for solving fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems where the structure is coupled with cables. For the numerical treatment of fluids in incompressible flow, the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations are discretized using a semi-implicit version of the characteristic-based split (CBS) method in the context of the finite element method (FEM), where linear tetrahedral elements are used. In the presence of moving structures, the flow equations are described through an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation and a numerical scheme of mesh movement is adopted. The structure is treated through a three-dimensional rigid body approach and the cable through an elastic model with geometric nonlinearity and spatial discretization by the nodal position finite element method (NPFEM). The system of equations of motion can be temporally discretized using the implicit Newmark and generalized-α methods and a partitioned coupling scheme is used taking into account fluid-structure and cable-structure couplings. The algorithms proposed here are verified using numerical applications.