Approximate Surface Method for the Application of CFD Pressure to FEM Model

초록

Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation which performs coupled analysis of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational structural mechanics (CSM) require data transfer at the interface of fluid and structure. Therefore, a proper method for data transfer between these two different disciplines should be developed for efficient and reliable FSI simulation. In this paper, a new method that can transfer the pressure data of a CFD model to the finite element model for structural analysis with the total sum of forces and moments conserved is devised. In the proposed method, the concentrated forces computed from pressure data of CFD cells are interpolated and applied to the structural nodes at inside and outside of the overlapped surface of CFD cells by using a plane equation to compute finite element nodal forces from pressure distributions while satisfying force equilibrium. To verify the proposed method, a pipe model with internal flow is used, and expected load distributions and structural deformations are confirmed from the analysis result. From the result, it can be concluded that the proposed method can be utilized successfully to interface independently constructed CFD models and finite element models for FSI analysis.