AHPCRC Fluid-Structure Interaction
Fluid-Structure Interaction Problems Using High Performance Computing
Investigators
O. Olatidoye, S. Sarathy and G. Jones - Clark Atlanta University - AHPCRC
T. Tezduyar and S. Aliabadi - University of Minnesota-AHPCRC
Objective
The objective is to analyze and
simulate the behavior of structures, such as variable truss with interaction
with incompressible fluid flow, with particular emphasis on using parallel
and vector computing methods.
Relevance
The main focus for this research is to form basis for
analysis of offshore structures under windload during adverse weather, and
modeling ground vehicles, such as tanks and armoured vehicles, that are
subjected to nuclear blasts.
Methodology
A structural method such as the Finite Element method (FEM) is
used to calculate the effects of wind loads, which are prescribed through the
use of CFD techniques, on high rise structures. The structures geometry was
modelled on a geometric modeller to create surface meshes. Several
3-dimensional meshes were created on the CRAY-90 using an automatic mesh
generators. In the first stage of the modeling, the high rise structure is
treated as a cantilever beam and rigid body for the purpose of studying its
dynamic behavior. The truss type beam is analyzed as a homogeneous section
with the equivalent moment of inertia derived from the contribution only of
the chords. Such an assumption is justified for slender beams for which the
deflections due to web strains is neglegible. Based on the above
assumptions, the high rise model chosen is treated as a lumped mass system.
Software Developed
In place of the software packages, Pager and Visual 3 used previously at the
AHPCRC in Minnesota, IDEAS and Wavefront are now being installed as an
alternatives. Computer code has also been developed to calculate wind
pressures on a given mesh created by the surface mesh generator. The code
uses nodal arrays of the surface mesh as input and displays variances in wind
load using Explorer.