HPC FSI simulation of a rod subjected to axial turbulent flow

High Performance Computing (HPC) resources were available and a detailed approach has been accomplished, with several computational meshes scaling up to 20 million cells. Spectral and spatial analysis has been performed on the numerical results and validation with the experimental data provided has been carried out.

Additionally, an FSI simulation has been achieved for the same geometry, with a partitioned approach, coupling two separate flow and structural solvers and a comparison has been carried out with the experiment here as well, in order to examine the ability of the software to predict the behavior of the FSI and how the numerical approximations affect the results in turbulent cases.

The turbulent velocity frequencies showed a good correspondence with the natural vibration modes of the rod and the software was shown capable to simulate the FSI behavior, but had room for improvement in several sectors, especially HPC. Many possible causes have been considered as possible for the FIV and numerical calculations of the problem’s variables has shown the existence of fluid-elastic instabilities as the most probable cause of vibrations in the current setup.