A High-Order Spectral Difference Method for Fluid-Structure Interaction on Dynamic Deforming Meshes

In previous work by the authors, Spectral Difference Method has been formulated in a framework with time-dependent moving deformable meshes. The framework has also been shown to preserve the design accuracy of the underlying high order temporal (explicit Runge-Kutta) and spatial discretization (Spectral Difference) methods. In this study, Spectral Difference method is further extended to deal with fluid-structure interaction problems in a dynamic grid-deforming framework. In particular, we address the technique for blending the mesh in the presence of moving and deforming physical boundaries, the issue of fluid-structure coupling, and the formulation of the structural model. Flows over plunging and pitching airfoils are solved on deforming meshes, and the results are validated with experimental studies as well as previous numerical results with rigidly moving meshes. The solver is then applied to solve a fluid structure interaction problem, which involves an elastic beam interacting with a cylinder vortical wake. Finally, we consider the case of a flow over a finite mass cylinder that is free to oscillate in the cross-flow direction, and examine the dynamics of the flow induced cylinder movement and oscillation.