Coupled simulations involving light-weight structures within turbulent flows: FSI strategy and non-matching interface treatment for isogeometric b-rep analysis

Abstract

Lightweight shell structures have gained significant popularity in the engineering design as they offer high load carrying capacity for low cost. While classical Finite Element models of such structures have been extensively used in practice, the shell formulations for Isogeometric Analysis (IGA), particularly for Kirchhoff-Love shell structures [1], have demonstrated benefits arising from the smooth geometry description and the highly accurate solutions that are enabled. Moreover, the direct use of CAD-models for the structural simulations is possible based e.g. on the Isogeometric B-Rep Analysis (IBRA) [2]. Herein the application of IBRA to Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations of wind turbines is demonstrated, thus naturally extending IBRA to coupled multiphysics problems.