A Unified Finite Element Method for Fluid-Structure Interaction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a unified finite element method for fluid-structure interaction that combines robustness and efficiency, simplifying implementation while accurately modeling complex FSI phenomena.

Contribution

A new UFEM approach that unifies fluid and solid simulation on a single mesh, improving computational efficiency and ease of implementation over traditional monolithic methods.

Findings

Validated across diverse fluid-structure scenarios

Achieves similar robustness to monolithic methods

More computationally efficient and easier to implement

Abstract

In this article, we present a new unified finite element method (UFEM) for simulation of general Fluid-Structure interaction (FSI) which has the same generality and robustness as monolithic methods but is significantly more computationally efficient and easier to implement. Our proposed approach has similarities with classical immersed finite element methods (IFEMs), by approximating a single velocity and pressure field in the entire domain (i.e. occupied by fluid and solid) on a single mesh, but differs by treating the corrections due to the solid deformation on the left-hand side of the modified fluid flow equations (i.e. implicitly). The method is described in detail, followed by the presentation of multiple computational examples in order to validate it across a wide range of fluid and solid parameters and interactions.