A Coupled Lattice Boltzmann-Extended Finite Element Model for Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulation with Crack Propagation

Fatigue cracking of structures in fluid-structure interaction (FSI) applications is a pervasive issue that impacts a broad spectrum of engineering activities, ranging from large-scale ocean engineering and aerospace structures to bio-medical prosthetics. Fatigue is a particular concern in the offshore drilling industry where the problem is exacerbated by environmental degradation, and where structural failure can have substantial financial and environmental ramifications. As a result, interest has grown for the development of structural health monitoring (SHM) schemes for FSI applications that promote early damage detection. FSI simulation provides a practical and efficient means for evaluating and training SHM approaches for FSI applications, and for improving fatigue life predictions through robust parametric studies that address uncertainties in both crack propagation and FSI response. To this end, this paper presents a numerical modeling approach for simulating FSI response with crack propagation. The modeling approach couples a massively parallel lattice Boltzmann fluid solver, executed on a graphics processing unit (GPU) device, with an extended finite element (XFE) solid solver. Two-way interaction is provided by an immersed boundary coupling scheme, in which a Lagrangian solid mesh moves on top of a fixed Eulerian fluid grid. The theoretical basis and numerical implementation of the modeling approach are presented, along with a simple demonstration problem involving subcritical crack growth in a flexible beam subject to vortex-induced vibration

Strongly coupled peridynamic and lattice Boltzmann models using immersed boundary method for flow-induced structural deformation and fracture

To simulate the dynamics of structural deformation and fracture caused by fluid-structure interactions accurately and efficiently, a strong coupling between the peridynamic model and the lattice Boltzmann method using the immersed boundary method is developed here. In this novel method, the peridynamic model predicts structural deformation and fracture, the cascaded lattice Boltzmann method serves as the flow solver, and the immersed boundary method is to enforce a no-slip boundary condition on the fluid-solid interface. The strong coupling is achieved by adding velocity corrections for the fluid and solid phases simultaneously at each time step, which are calculated by solving a linear system of equations derived from an implicit velocity correction immersed boundary scheme. Therefore, this new scheme based on the immersed boundary method eliminates the need to iteratively solve the dynamics of the fluid and solid phases at each time step. The proposed method is rigorously validated considering the plate with a pre-existing crack under velocity boundary conditions, the sedimentation of an elastic disk, the cross-flow over a flexible beam, and the flow-induced deformation of an elastic beam attached to a rigid cylinder. More importantly, the structural deformation, crack formation, and fracture due to interaction with the fluid flow are captured innovatively

Interactive 3D simulation for fluid–structure interactions using dual coupled GPUs

The scope of this work involves the integration of high-speed parallel computation with interactive, 3D visualization of the lattice-Boltzmann-based immersed boundary method for fluid–structure interaction. An NVIDIA Tesla K40c is used for the computations, while an NVIDIA Quadro K5000 is used for 3D vector field visualization. The simulation can be paused at any time step so that the vector field can be explored. The density and placement of streamlines and glyphs are adjustable by the user, while panning and zooming is controlled by the mouse. The simulation can then be resumed. Unlike most scientific applications in computational fluid dynamics where visualization is performed after the computations, our software allows for real-time visualizations of the flow fields while the computations take place. To the best of our knowledge, such a tool on GPUs for FSI does not exist. Our software can facilitate debugging, enable observation of detailed local fields of flow and deformation while computing, and expedite identification of ‘correct’ parameter combinations in parametric studies for new phenomenon. Therefore, our software is expected to shorten the ‘time to solution’ process and expedite the scientific discoveries via scientific computing

Red Blood Cell Dynamics on Non-Uniform Grids using a Lattice Boltzmann Flux Solver and a Spring-Particle Red Blood Cell Model

The Computational Haemodynamics Research Group (CHRG) in Technological University Dublin is developing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package aimed specifically at physiologically-realistic modelling of blood flow. A physiologically-realistic model of blood flow involves calculating the deformation of individual red blood cells (RBCs) and the contribution of this deformation to the overall blood flow. The CHRG has developed an enhanced spring-particle RBC structural model that is capable of modelling the full stomatocyte-discocyteechinocyte (SDE) transformation. This RBC model, incorporated into a fluid dynamics solver, will provide a physiologically-realistic blood flow model. In this work the overall plasma flow is modelled using a novel technique: the lattice Boltzmann flux solver (LBFS). This is an innovative approach to solving the NavierStokes (N-S) equations for fluid flow. It involves solving the macroscopic equations using the finite volume method (FVM) and calculating the flux across the cell interfaces via a local reconstruction of the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE). Fluidstruture interaction between the RBC and the plasma is captured by coupling the RBC solver to the LBFS via the immersed boundary method (IBM). Numerical experiments investigating RBC dynamics are performed using non-uniform grids and validated against existing experimental data in the literature. Finally all numerical solvers are developed using general purpose GPU programming (GPGPU) and this is shown to accelerate simulation runtimes significantly

PIBM: Particulate immersed boundary method for fluid-particle interaction problems

It is well known that the number of particles should be scaled up to enable industrial scale simulation. The calculations are more computationally intensive when the motion of the surrounding fluid is considered. Besides the advances in computer hardware and numerical algorithms, the coupling scheme also plays an important role on the computational efficiency. In this study, a particulate immersed boundary method (PIBM) for simulating the fluid–particle multiphase flow was presented and assessed in both two- and three-dimensional applications. The idea behind PIBM derives from the conventional momentum exchange-based Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) by treating each Lagrangian point as a solid particle. This treatment enables Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) to be coupled with fine particles residing within a particular grid cell. Compared with the conventional IBM, dozens of times speedup in two-dimensional simulation and hundreds of times in three-dimensional simulation can be expected under the same particle and mesh number. Numerical simulations of particle sedimentation in Newtonian flows were conducted based on a combined LBM–PIBM–Discrete Element Method (DEM) scheme, showing that the PIBM can capture the feature of particulate flows in fluid and is indeed a promising scheme for the solution of the fluid–particle interaction problems

Numerical investigation of particle-fluid interaction system based on discrete element method

This thesis focuses on the numerical investigation of the particle-fluid systems based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM). The whole thesis consists of three parts, in each part we have coupled the DEM with different schemes/solvers on the fluid phase. In the first part, we have coupled DEM with Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) to study the particle-laden turbulent flow. The effect of collisions on the particle behavior in fully developed turbulent flow in a straight square duct was numerically investigated. Three sizes of particles were considered with diameters equal to 50 µm, 100 µm and 500 µm. Firstly, the particle transportation by turbulent flow was studied in the absence of the gravitational effect. Then, the particle deposition was studied under the effect of the wall-normal gravity force in which the influence of collisions on the particle resuspension rate and the final stage of particle distribution on the duct floor were discussed, respectively. In the second part, we have coupled DEM with Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) to study the particle sedimentation in Newtonian laminar flow. A novel combined LBM-IBM-DEM scheme was presented with its application to model the sedimentation of two dimensional circular particles in incompressible Newtonian flows. Case studies of single sphere settling in a cavity, and two particles settling in a channel were carried out, the velocity characteristics of the particle during settling and near the bottom were examined. At last, a numerical example of sedimentation involving 504 particles was finally presented to demonstrate the capability of the combined scheme. Furthermore, a Particulate Immersed Boundary Method (PIBM) for simulating the fluid-particle multiphase flow was presented and assessed in both two and three-dimensional applications. Compared with the conventional IBM, dozens of times speedup in two-dimensional simulation and hundreds of times in three-dimensional simulation can be expected under the same particle and mesh number. Numerical simulations of particle sedimentation in the Newtonian flows were conducted based on a combined LBM - PIBM - DEM showing that the PIBM could capture the feature of the particulate flows in fluid and was indeed a promising scheme for the solution of the fluid-particle interaction problems. In the last part, we have coupled DEM with averaged Navier-Stokes equations (NS) to study the particle transportation and wear process on the pipe wall. A case of pneumatic conveying was utilized to demonstrate the capability of the coupling model. The concrete pumping process was then simulated, where the hydraulic pressure and velocity distribution of the fluid phase were obtained. The frequency of the particles impacting on the bended pipe was monitored, a new time average collision intensity model based on impact force was proposed to investigate the wear process of the elbow. The location of maximum erosive wear damage in elbow was predicted. Furthermore, the influences of slurry velocity, bend orientation and angle of elbow on the puncture point location were discussed.Esta tesis se centra en la investigación numérica de sistemas partícula-líquido basado en la técnica Discrete Element Method (DEM). La tesis consta de tres partes, en cada una de las cuales se ha acoplado el método DEM con diferentes esquemas/solucionadores en la fase fluida. En la primera parte, hemos acoplado los métodos DEM con Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) para estudiar casos de "particle-laden turbulent flow". Se investigó numéricamente el efecto de las colisiones en el comportamiento de las partículas en el flujo turbulento completamente desarrollado en un conducto cuadrado recto. Tres tamaños de partículas se consideraron con diámetros de 50, 100 y 500 micrometros. En primer lugar, el transporte de partículas por el flujo turbulento se estudió en la ausencia del efecto gravitacional. Entonces, la deposición de partículas se estudió bajo el efecto de la fuerza de gravedad normal a la pared, en el que se discutieron la influencia de la tasa de colisiones en re-suspensión de las partículas y la fase final de la distribución de partículas en el suelo del conducto, respectivamente. En la segunda parte, se ha acoplado los métodos DEM con Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) para estudiar la sedimentación de partículas en flujo laminar newtoniano. Un nuevo metodo combinado LBM-IBM-DEM se presentó y ha sido aplicado para modelar la sedimentación de dos partículas circulares bi-dimensionales en flujos Newtonianos incompresibles. Se estudiaron casos de sedimentación en una cavidad de una sola esfera, y sedimentación de dos partículas en un canal, las características de la velocidad de la partícula durante la sedimentación y cerca de la base fueron también examinados. En el último caso, un ejemplo numérico de sedimentación de 504 partículas fue finalmente presentado para demostrar la capacidad del método combinado. Además, se ha presentado un método "Particulate Immersed Boundary Method" (PIBM) para la simulación de flujos multifásicos partícula-fluido y ha sido evaluado en dos y tres dimensiones. En comparación con el método IBM convencional, se puede esperar con el mismo número de partículas y de malla un SpeedUp docenas de veces superior en la simulación bidimensional y cientos de veces en la simulación en tres dimensiones. Se llevaron a cabo simulaciones numéricas de la sedimentación de partículas en los flujos newtonianos basados en una combinación LBM - PIBM - DEM, mostrando que el PIBM podría capturar las características de los flujos de partículas en el líquido y fue en efecto un esquema prometedor para la solución de problemas de interacción fluido-partícula. En la última parte, se ha acoplado el método DEM con las ecuaciones promediadas de Navier-Stokes (NS) para estudiar el transporte de partículas y el proceso de desgaste en la pared de una tubería. Se utilizó un caso de transporte neumático para demostrar la capacidad del modelo acoplado. Entonces se simuló el proceso de bombeo de hormigón, de donde se obtuvo la presión hidráulica y la distribución de la velocidad de la fase fluida. Se monitoreó la frecuencia de impacto de las partículas en la tubería doblada, se propuso un nuevo modelo de intensidad de colisión promediado en tiempo para investigar el proceso de desgaste del codo basado en la fuerza de impacto. Se predijo la ubicación del daño máximo desgaste por erosión en el codo. Además, se examinaron las influencias de la velocidad de pulpa, la orientación y el ángulo de curvatura del codo en la ubicación del punto de punción.Postprint (published version