FSI Analysis of Flow Around an Elastic Plate Behind a Rigid Circular Cylinder- A Parametric Study

Abstract

This paper presents a 3D numerical analysis of a well-known fluid-structure interactions (FSI) test case, namely the benchmark of Turek & Hron. The study aims to understand and analyse the fundamental characteristics of FSI through a simple test case. Therefore, a fully developed laminar flow at Re=200 has been studied using a single-platform coupling methodology adapted by STAR-CCM+ CFD software. From the study, the following results: displacements at the end of the plate; lift and drag forces on the interface are obtained. The work undertaken here mainly consists of a validation and a parametric study. Initially, the computational results have been validated with numerical results reported in the literature, and then a comprehensive parametric study is performed. For the parametric study, the selection of materials, geometric dimensions and coupling methods have been considered as the key parameters for the modelling of FSI problems. Therefore, polybutadiene, polypropylene, and steel were used as solid materials whereas glycerin, air and water were used as fluids. For geometric parameters, the plate dimensions were modified in terms of length and thickness. Regarding coupling methods, one-way and two-way coupling method were used at the solution of the problem. The results show that simulation results and literature data match well with each other. Relative differences between fluid and solid material properties affecting the characteristic have been analysed. For geometric features, the results demonstrate how the formation of flow-induced oscillations are influenced by the changes in the length and thickness of the plate. Furthermore, it is seen from the results that two-way coupling method gives far better results than the one-way coupling method, although one-way method gives faster results compared to the other. Consequently, it can be stated that analysis and validation of a single-platform FSI modelling strategy as in this study allows the simulation of full-scale systems that exist in engineering applications.