ANALYSIS OF FLUID STRUCTURE-INTERACTION (FSI) PROBLEMS IN ANSYS

Abstract

The Fluid-Structure Interaction problems occur in many natural phenomena and man-made engineering systems, this fact has promoted the research in this area. The research in this field of study is implementing two different methodologies. The first one is the use of commercial programs that have developed FSI capabilities such as Ansys or ADINA. The second methodology is the development of computational codes to solve specific problems of FSI analysis. This Project in particular focuses in the evaluation of Ansys-Fluent to perform FSI simulations. Two aeroelastic cases were simulated in Ansys, they were: the delta wing, and the Onera M6 wing. The delta wing simulation is subsonic and its structure is a simple flat plate made out of aluminum. The Onera M6 wing simulation is transonic and its structure has multiple components that are made out of an orthotropic material. The FSI simulations of the delta wing were validated through comparison with experimental data reported in literature. A turbulence analysis and a mesh independence analysis were carried out as well. The validation showed a limited capability to replicate the results that were obtained in the experiment. The FSI simulations of the Onera M6 wing were validated through comparison with a simulation that was carried out in Patran-Nastran. In addition, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation in steady state was performed in Ansys in order to establish the bases of the configuration that was implemented in the FSI simulations in Ansys. The validation showed that Ansys-Fluent is able to reproduce the results obtained in Patran-Nastran.