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Isogeometric fluid–structure interaction analysis with emphasis on non-matching discretizations, and with application to wind turbines
Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering (2012)
  • Y. Bazilevs, University of California, San Diego
  • Ming-Chen Hsu, University of California, San Diego
  • M. A. Scott, University of Texas at Austin
Abstract

In this paper we develop a framework for fluid–structure interaction (FSI) modeling and simulation with emphasis on isogeometric analysis (IGA) and non-matching fluid–structure interface discretizations. We take the augmented Lagrangian approach to FSI as a point of departure. Here the Lagrange multiplier field is defined on the fluid–structure interface and is responsible for coupling of the two subsystems. Thus the FSI formulation does not rely on the continuity of the underlying function spaces across the fluid–structure interface in order to produce the correct coupling conditions between the fluid and structural subdomains. However, in deriving the final FSI formulation the interface Lagrange multiplier is formally eliminated and the formulation is written purely in terms of primal variables. Avoiding the use of Lagrange multipliers adds efficiency to the proposed formulation. As an added benefit, the ability to employ non-matching grids for multi-physics simulations leads to significantly relaxed requirements that are placed on the geometry modeling and meshing tools for IGA.

We show an application of the proposed FSI formulation to the simulation of the NREL 5 MW offshore wind turbine rotor, where the aerodynamics domain is modeled using volumetric quadratic NURBS, while the rotor structure is modeled using a cubic T-spline-based discretization of a rotation-free Kirchhoff–Love shell. We conclude the article by showing FSI coupling of a T-spline shell with a low-order finite element method (FEM) discretization of the aerodynamics equations. This combined use of IGA and FEM is felt to be a good balance between speed, robustness, and accuracy of FSI simulations for this class of problems.

Keywords
  • Isogeometric analysis,
  • NURBS,
  • T-splines,
  • Fluid-structure interaction,
  • Non-matching interface discretizations,
  • NREL 5 MW offshore wind turbine rotor
Publication Date
December 1, 2012
Publisher Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, [249-252, (2012)] DOI:10.1016/j.cma.2012.03.028.
Citation Information
Y. Bazilevs, Ming-Chen Hsu and M. A. Scott. "Isogeometric fluid–structure interaction analysis with emphasis on non-matching discretizations, and with application to wind turbines" Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering Vol. 249-252 (2012)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ming-chen_hsu/6/