The lattice boltzmann method for fluid-structure interaction phenomena

In the recent years we investigated the validity and efficiency of coupling high order finite elements schemes for solid mechanics with the Lattice Boltzmann Method for CFD. The results on two dimensional and three dimensional benchmark configurations are very promising and show that an explicit coupling scheme is able to produce results which agree with reference solutions very well. The solid part was computed by the structural solver ADHOC and the fluid part by the parallel solver VIRTUALFLUIDS, which is based on adaptive hierarchical grids and component based technology. The applicability of the setup to problems in civil engineering such as the fully three dimensional turbulent computation of a bridge in a storm will be pointed out. Finally, a setup of a propeller motion induced jet stream behind a ship shows the applicability of the flow solver to handle one billion degrees of freedom during the simulation. Furthermore, the coupling to a rigid body dynamics engine (PhysicsEngine-pe) allows to compute interaction problems with a huge number of particles. The parallel simulation of the coupled problem is the base for simulations in the context of a geothermic drilling project where the particles, cut by drilling, influence the fluid behavior. Finally, a free surface Lattice Boltzmann approach coupled with rigid body motions shows the further potential of the method and demonstrates the broad applicability of the developed algorithms.