A Phase-Field Model for Fluid-Structure-Interaction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new phase-field model for fluid-structure interaction that handles large deformations, topology changes, and contact dynamics within a fully Eulerian framework, validated by benchmark comparisons.

Contribution

The novel phase-field model allows for stable, accurate simulation of complex FSI phenomena, including contact and adhesion, without re-meshing or interface tracking.

Findings

Model shows excellent agreement with ALE simulations.

Enables simulation of contact and adhesion in FSI.

Avoids re-triangulation and handles surface tension effectively.

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a novel phase-field model for fluid-structure interaction (FSI), that is capable to handle very large deformations as well as topology changes like contact of the solid to the domain boundary. The model is based on a fully Eulerian description of the velocity field in both, the fluid and the elastic domain. Viscous and elastic stresses in the Navier-Stokes equations are restricted to the corresponding domains by multiplication with their characteristic functions. To obtain the elastic stress, an additional Oldroyd-B - like equation is solved. Thermodynamically consistent forces are derived by energy variation. The convergence of the derived equations to the traditional sharp interface formulation of fluid-structure interaction is shown by matched asymptotic analysis. The model is evaluated in a challenging benchmark scenario of an elastic body traversing a fluid channel. A comparison to reference values from Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) simulations shows very good agreement. We highlight some distinct advantages of the new model, like the avoidance of re-triangulations and the stable inclusion of surface tension. Further, we demonstrate how simple it is to include contact dynamics into the model, by simulating a ball bouncing off a wall. We extend this scenario to include adhesion of the ball, which to our knowledge, cannot be simulated with any other FSI model. While we have restricted simulations to fluid-structure interaction, the model is capable to simulate any combination of viscous fluids, visco-elastic fluids and elastic solids.