Fluid Structure Interaction Analysis of

Tapered Wing And Rectangular Plate

Submitted by

Jyoti Rathore
Roll no. 16017504005

Under the guidance of

Er. Rahul Malik

(Head of Department)
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
in
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
(Computer Aided Design)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Deenbandhu Chotu Ram University of Science & Technology,
Murthal (Sonipat – 131039)
 DECLARATION

This is certified that the matter embodied in the present work entitled “Fluid
Structure Interaction Analysis of Tapered Wing and Rectangular Plate” is based
on my original research work. It has not been submitted in part of fully for any
diploma or degree of any other university.
My indebtedness to other in this work has been duly acknowledged at relevant
palaces.

Jyoti Rathore
Roll No. 16017504005

ii
 CERTIFICATE

I hereby certified that the work being presented in the “Fluid Structure Interaction
Analysis of Tapered Wing and Rectangular Plate” in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Technology (Mechanical
Engineering) in Computer Aided Design submitted in the department of
Mechanical Engineering at P.M. College of Engineering, Sonipat is an authentic
record of Jyoti Rathore’s own record carried out during a period from Jan 18 to
Nov 18 under the supervision of Er. Rahul Malik, Head cum Assistant Professor
(Department of Mechanical Engineering, PMCE). The matter presented in thesis
has not been submitted in any other university or institute for the award of M.Tech.
Degree.

Signature of Student

(Jyoti Rathore)

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the

best of my knowledge.

Signature of Supervisor
(Er. Rahul Malik)
Head cum Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
P.M. College of Engineering, Sonipat

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I feel blessed for having the privilege of working with my guide, Er. Rahul
Malik, Head cum Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department, whose
dedication to academics has been a constant motivation for carrying out my project to
the best of my abilities. I am thankful to him for giving me this opportunity. All the
thought-provoking discussions I had with him enriched my understanding of the
engineering fundamentals and helped me to complete my project at a faster pace. I
would also like to thank my guide for sharing his valuable knowledge and constant
encouragement provided to me during the course of project.
I would also like to thank P. Rama Krishana (Assistant Professor), Vinod
Kumar (Laboratory Instructor) for their deep involvement and guidance in this
research work.
I express my gratitude to my mates who helped in resolving some of the issues
related to off the shelf availability of crucial software and data which saved me a lot
of precious time. I am grateful to all my classmates for creating a homely atmosphere
and being there during good and bad times. All the wonderful moments shared with
them will remain in my memory forever.
Finally, I am indebted to my family who were always a great source of
encouragement in providing a peaceful state of mind during my entire duration of M
Tech. I happily dedicate this thesis to my family.

iv
DEDICATED TO

MY PARENTS

v
 ABSTRACT

This project work deals with fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis,
which is the most emerging area of numerical simulation and calculation.
FSI occurs due to flow of fluid influences the properties of a structure or
vice versa. It is very important task to researchers to find a good technique
so that complex problems such as interaction of fluid flow over the solid
object can be dealt out by keeping in mind the resources available. The
fluid structure interaction phenomenon is not specific it occurs in almost
every field of engineering and always remains attraction of engineers and
researcher of different fields.
Present work dealt with FSI analysis of tapered wing made by
NACA2412 aerofoil having different chord length from root to tip and a
flat plate. The researchers and engineers develops a variety of techniques
to deal FSI analysis. A comparative study has been made on the stress
strain, deformation of structure and stress time analysis of wing and plate.
The fluid and structural model have been created with appropriate
dimensions in design modeller in ANSYS. Transient structural and CFD
fluent is used as a pre-processing tool for creating the whole
computational domain and volume mesh. For the structural model,
ANSYS Mechanical (transient structural) is used to determine the
dynamic response of a structure under unsteady fluid pressure loads. In
order to understand the dynamics of a structural member, modal analysis
has been conducted to determine the flutter velocities and deformation.

vi
 CONTENTS

PAGE
NO.
DECLARATION ii

CERTIFICATE iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT vi

LIST OF FIGURES x

LIST OF TABLES xii

SYMBOLS AND NOTATIONS xiii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Static Problems 2

1.2 Dynamic Problems 4

1.3 Aircraft Wing 5

1.4 Fluid-Structure Interaction 6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10

CHAPTER 3 THEORITICAL 14
BACKGROUND

3.1 CFD and Fluid Model 14

3.2 Mass Conservation Principle 14

3.3 Newton’s Second Law and 14

Momentum Eqation
3.4 Finite Volume Method 15

vii
 3.5 Turbulence Model 16

3.6 Reynold’s Averaged Navier- 16

Stokes (RANS) Equations
3.7 K-Epsilon (K-ɛ) Turbulence 17
Model
3.8 Realizable K-ɛ Model 18

3.9 K-ω Turbulence Model 18

3.10 Finite Element Method and 18

Structural Model
3.11 System Coupling 20

3.12 Data Transfer 20

3.13 Time Advancement Schemes 22

3.14 Re-Meshing 23

CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH 24
METHODOLOGY
4.1 Geometry 24

4.2 Computational Mesh 25

4.3 Simulation Setup 26

4.4 Material Properties 26

4.5 Turbulence Modelling Setup 27

4.6 Boundary Conditions 27

4.7 Solver Setup 27

4.8 ANSYS Mechanical Setup 28

4.9 System Coupling Setup 28

CHAPTER 5 RESULTS AND 31

DISCUSSION
5.1 FSI Analysis of Rectangular 31
Plate

viii
 5.2 FSI Analysis of Wing 35

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 39

CHAPTER 7 FUTURE SCOPE OF 41

WORK
REFERENCES 42

ix
 LIST OF FIGURES

Page
No.
Figure Collar’s aero-elastic triangle 2
1.1
Figure Cross-section of aircraft wing 3
1.2
Figure Rotation and plunge motion 4
1.3 for an airfoil subjected to
flutter
Figure A typical wing and its parts 6
1.4
Figure Fluid structure interaction 7
1.5
Figure System coupling flowchart 20
3.1
Figure Conservative nature of GGI 21
3.2 algorithm
Figure Profile preserving nature of 21
3.3 smart bucket algorithm
Figure Wing inside a fluid domain 25
4.1
Figure Meshing over the wing 25
4.2
Figure Meshing over fluid domain 26
4.3
Figure Structural member setup 28
4.4
Figure FSI analysis setup using 29
4.5 system coupling
Figure Properties of data transfer 30
4.6
Figure Total deformation contour of 31
5.1 rectangular plate

x
Figure Elastic strain contour of 32
5.2 rectangular plate
Figure Maximum shear stress contour 32
5.3 of rectangular plate
Figure Displacement vs time curve of 33
5.4 rectangular plate
Figure Stress vs strain curve of 34
5.5 rectangular plate
Figure Stress vs time curve of 34
5.6 rectangular plate
Figure Total deformation contour of 35
5.7 wing
Figure Equivalent stress contour of 36
5.8 wing
Figure Equivalent elastic strain 37
5.9 contour of wing
Figure Displacement vs time curve of 37
5.10 wing
Figure Stress vs Strain plot of wing 38
5.11
Figure Stress vs time plot of wing 38
5.12

xi
 LIST OF TABLES

S.N. Name of Table Page

no.

Table 4.1 Fluid property 26

Table 4.2 Turbulence modelling setup 27

Table 4.3 Discretization scheme used in fluent 27

xii
 SYMBOLS AND NOTATIONS

ρ: Density of fluid

µ: Dynamic viscosity of fluid

U: Velocity vector

SM: Momentum source

Φ: Variable function

CV: Control volume

Ϭ: Stress tensor

Eij: Component of rate of deformation

µt: Eddy viscosity

Ke: Element stiffness matrix

Ne: Number of elementc

xiii
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Aero elasticity is an aerodynamic phenomenon in which we study the

effect of the aerodynamic forces on elastic bodies, when solid body
interact with fluid. During analysis of dynamic system of structure, if
aerodynamic loading is taken into account then the resultant phenomenon
is classified as aeroelastic. Theory of elasticity deals with the effect of
external displacement and aerodynamic forces on deformation and stress
of an elastic body. Deformation of a structure of body is generally not
depends on the extent of external forces acts on it so in most of the case
deformation is to be assumed as a very small and presume it will not
affect by the action of forces acts externally. Based on this assumption the
change in dimension of body was neglected often and calculations are
purely consider by taking the initial shape of the object, in other words
initial dimensions of object is taken for calculation. While reality is
different in most of the problems of aero elasticity. The extent of
aerodynamic forces depends upon structure body attitude relative to the
flow. External loading of body is generally determined by elastic
deformation of the body. In other words to determine the magnitude of
aerodynamic force pre knowledge of elastic deformation is required. So
design of flight vehicles is strongly influenced by aero elastic
phenomenon and hence its analysis is very important.
Collar made a triangle of forces in which the vertex of triangle represents
a specific force. By pairing two of three corners he formulates a new
discipline.

1
 Figure-1.1: Collar’s aero-elastic triangle

For example

 Aerodynamics + Dynamics = Aerodynamic Stability

 Dynamics + Structural Mechanics = Mechanical Vibration or Structural
dynamics
 Aerodynamics + Structural Mechanics = Divergence or Static
aeroelasticity

Since all these forces are considered special cases of aeroelasticity. Hence
for occurrence of dynamic aeroelastic effects, all three forces are required.
Different types of aeroelastic problems occur in aeronautical field are
given in the following subsection:

1.1 Static Problems

The interaction between aerodynamics and elastic forces may leads to

divergent tendencies in a very flexible structure, which eventually leads to
failure of structure. While on the other hand, if the structure is adequately
stiff, a stable equilibrium condition is reached. The static aeroelastic
problems occur due to interaction of aerodynamic forces and elastic
forces. These problems are further classified as: Divergence, Static Flight
Stability, Distribution of Lift and Aileron Effectiveness.

2
When moment produced by the air loads will be greater than the torsional
stiffness of the wing then it twisted the structure of wing. This
phenomenon is known as divergence. The speed at which divergence
failure occurs is known as divergence speed and it will be much higher
than the normal operational speed of the vehicle. This particular problem
generally occurs in case of swept forward wings because they have
relatively low divergence speed. To understand this phenomenon
considers a simple case of wing shown in figure 1.2. When speed of flow
increases then lift forces increases, which acts to the aerodynamic centre
of wing.

Figure 1.2: Cross section of aircraft wing

Due to increase in lift, the twisting moment about the centre of twist also
increases which increase the local angle of attack of the wing. Hence the
lift forces and twisting moment further increase and this process
continues. Above a certain limiting speed i.e. divergence speed the
torsional speed of the structure will not be capable to balance the
aerodynamic moment of wing and structure becomes unstable. This
phenomenon is known as torsional divergence. Other structural
divergence also occurs on the system but this is the critical ones.

Aileron reversal occurs due to deflection of aileron. Aileron is used

to produce the rolling moment on aircraft. It is attached at the outboard of
trailing edge of the wing through the hinge support. So when it is
deflected downward cause additional upward lift in the wing near the tip.
This additional lift also creates additional moment, which results in nose
down twisting moment and hence local angle of attack reduces. When a
particular speed reached i.e. aileron reversal speed, then the aileron
deflection does not produce further rolling moment. This condition is
known as aileron reversal.

Finally the distribution of lift due to uneven distribution of pressure over

the surface of wing causes elastic deformation of the wing, which may be
divergence of nature. Static flight stability deals with this elastic
deformation in terms of flight controllability namely static margin.
3
1.2 Dynamic Problems

The time dependent situation of system enters in dynamic aeroelasticity,

which leads to structural oscillation of system. Since elastic stiffness of
the system remains independent with the wind speed past over it, but
aerodynamic forces strongly dependent on the wind speed and increases
rapidly with the increment of wind speed. Hence there must be consists a
critical wind speed at which structure of the system becomes unstable.
This instability might be caused of excessive oscillatory deformations in
structure, which increases exponentially and leads to damage or
destruction of the structure. Flutter is one of the major problem which
may exists in aircraft structure, suspension bridges etc. It is dynamic in
characteristics and small disturbance may leads to small or more violent
oscillation. It is characterized by the interaction of elastic, inertia and
aerodynamic forces and is known as problem of dynamic aeroelastic
instability. A particular case of oscillation with zero frequency, in which
in inertia force is neglected generally is called as steady state or static
aero-elastic instability.

Figure-1.3: Rotation and Plunge Motion for an Airfoil Subjected to Flutter

The basic type of flutter of aircraft wing is described above. Flutter might
be initiated by rotation of the airfoil. Consider rotation starts at time t=0,
as shown in figure 1.3. The aerodynamic force on airfoil increases and
rises the airfoil, but due to torsional stiffness of the structure it again
returns to zero rotation condition at time t = T/4. The airfoil tries to return
to neutral condition due to bending stress of the structure, but it starts
rotating in nose down sense (shown at t = T/2 in figure). Again
aerodynamic forces will increase causes the airfoil to plunge and due to
torsional stiffness of structure returns to zero rotation (t=3T/4). The cycle
will be completed, when the airfoil returns to the neutral position with a
nose-up sense. We can notice here that the maximum rotation leads to
maximum rise or plunge by 90 degrees (T/4). With increase in time the
plunge motion tends to damp out, while the rotation motion diverges. If

4
 this motion is allowed to continue, then the forces due to the rotation will
leads to structural failure.

Coalescence of two structural modes leads to flutter and these modes are
pitch and plunge motion. The plunge is also known as bending. The pitch
mode leads to rotational motion, while bending mode leads to vertical up
and down motion at the wing tip. As the airfoil flies with increasing speed
of air, the frequencies of these modes coalesce and created one mode, the
frequency of the resulting mode is known as flutter frequency and this
condition is called flutter condition of airfoil. This condition occurs at the
flutter resonance.

Airfoil has many applications in aircraft. It is primarily used to decide the

cross section of wing but also used in tail, control surfaces such as aileron,
elevator and rudder and propeller blades. Therefore flutter analysis of airfoil
is very important because it can affect the overall performance of the aircraft.

1.3 Aircraft Wing

In aviation field effort is continuously made to decrease the weight of

the wing while increasing its strength, so that it can supports the weight of
whole aircraft by producing the enough lift force. The cross section of
wing is known as airfoil, which may be symmetrical or cambered. Thick
end of wing is called as leading edge and thin end is trailing edge. Length
of straight line joining the leading edge to trailing edge of airfoil is known
as chord length of airfoil. Line joining the locus of points which is
equidistant from upper surface to lower surface is known as camber line
of airfoil. When camber line is coincide with the chord line, the airfoil
will be symmetrical. If camber line lies above the chord line of airfoil, it
will be positive cambered airfoil. Present work has been carried out on
NACA2412 airfoil, which is positive cambered airfoil.

The figure 1.4 shows the main structural parts of the wing. Which are ribs,
spars, stringers and skin. According to the application, one can change
their materials, quantity and location of the components.

5
 Figure 1.4: A typical wing and its parts

Ribs are chordwise elements that provide airfoil shape to the wing and
used to resist the concentrated loads acted on the wing. While spars and
stringers are spanwise elements which provides strength to the wing and
provide strength to the wing against torsional and bending loads. The
thickness requirement of the skin is provided by the spars. For example in
case of two spar wing, the thickness of the skin of the wing is higher and
spars to manipulate the torsional characteristics of the wing spars can be
adjusted.

1.4 Fluid-structure interaction (FSI)

Fluid Structure Interaction is a multi-physics coupling between the laws
that describe structural mechanics and fluid dynamics. This phenomenon
can be characterized by stable or oscillatory interactions between a
moving or deformable structure and internal fluid flow or surrounding.
Stresses exerted on the structure due to passing of airflow over the
structure and it leads to strains are on the solid object. This induced stress
and strains causes body will deformed. The extent of deformation totally
depends upon the velocity and pressure of flow of fluid and also on the
properties of material of the actual structure.

6
 Figure 1.5: Fluid structures interaction

For the past ten years, the simulations of multi-physics

problems have become more important in the field of numerical
simulations and analyses. In order to solve such interaction problems,
structure and fluid models i.e. equations which describe fluid dynamics
and structural mechanics have to be coupled. If the deformations of the
structure are quite small and the variations in time are also relatively slow,
the fluid's behaviour will not be greatly affected by the deformation, and
we can concern ourselves with only the resultant stresses in the solid
parts. However, if the variations in time are fast, greater than a few cycles
per second, then even small structural deformations will lead to pressure
waves in the fluid. These pressure waves lead to the radiation of sound
from vibrating structures. Such problems can be treated as an acoustic-
structure interaction, rather than a fluid-structure interaction. Yet, if the
deformations of the structure are large, the velocity and pressure fields of
the fluid will change as a result, and we need to treat the problem as a
bidirectionally coupled multiphysics analysis: The fluid flow and pressure
fields affect the structural deformations, and the structural deformations
affect the flow and pressure.

Fluid-structure interactions can be classified into three groups:

1. Zero strain interactions: such as the transport of suspended solids in a
liquid matrix.
2. Constant strain steady flow interactions: The constant force exerted on
an oil-pipeline due to viscous friction between the pipeline walls and the
fluid.

7
3. Oscillatory interactions: In this interaction the induced strain in the
solid structure will move in such a way that the source of strain is
diminished and the structure will returns to its previous state only for the
process to repeat.

One-way and two-way fluid-structure interaction modelling: The

Problems Which involves the interaction between fluids and structures
can be modelled as uncoupled problems and can be consider within their
separate domains. In the uncoupled problems one domain is driven by the
other domain. The domain which drives the system is called as driven
domain and the other domain is called driving domain. The driven domain
having no feedback effect on the driving domain and hence it is called,
one-way fluid structure interaction.

For example the acoustic propagation of air being driven by a speaker can
be consider without considering the feedback effects of the driven air on
the structural deflection of the loud speaker surface. That is therefore an
example of a classical fluid structural interaction problem where the
coupling effect of the interaction between the fluid and structural domains
needs to be consider in one direction only namely the effect of the fluid on
the structure. Modelling of complex structure analytically has limited
scope and difficult so numerical analysis is generally required. Therefore
most of the complex engineering problems widely adopted the numerical
solutions such as Finite Element Method (FEM) and Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations in the structural and fluid
domains respectively. One way to couple the model numerically in fluid
structure interaction problems is to couple two computational domain i.e.
FEM and CFD together with independent solvers for each domain, while
boundary conditions is passed from each domain to the other at every
computational step.

Other example of one way fluid structure interaction situation is the

dynamic wind loading on civil structures, where fluid is the driving
domain and the structure is being driven, while the structural part has
almost no feedback effect on the domain of fluid. In these problems, the
motion of fluid and displacement of the structure have not major effect on
the wind loads which drive this motion and separate analysis of structure
can be possible or can be uncoupled from the wind under the given load
conditions.

This will be not always occurs in all engineering problems. In some

problems the motion of fluid further enhance the fluid forces due to
displacement of structure .In these system the structure and fluid must be
coupled in such a way that they are interacting through a feedback system.

8
These types of problems required two way fluid structure interaction
analyses. This is often occurs when the amplitude of the structural
deflection is large.

9
 CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis, which is the most emerging area
of numerical simulation and calculation. FSI occurs due to flow of fluid
influences the properties of a structure or vice versa. It is very important
task to researchers to find a good technique so that complex problems
such as interaction of fluid flow over the solid object can be dealt out by
keeping in mind the resources available. The fluid structure interaction
phenomenon is not specific it occurs in almost every field of engineering
and always remains attraction of engineers and researcher of different
fields. It is a major topic of research from the past few decades in the area
of research in aeronautical and mechanical stream.

Fluid- Structure interaction problems have been investigated by Goud et.

al (March, 2014) on AGARD 445.6 wings at transonic flow regime. The
simulated result of wing at this speed was compared by previous result.
The tip motion of wing was noted during flutter test at M=0.9, while
dynamic pressure is varied. At each Mach number they observed a flutter
boundary means tip displacement maintains its amplitude, it will be
neither increasing nor decreasing. The region above flutter boundary has
been found as unstable and region below flutter boundary was found to be
stable.

Jian Tang et. al (January,2008) explained the computational Fluid-

Structure Interaction of a Deformable Flapping Wing for Micro Air
Vehicle Applications and in that he tells that the structural model is based
on an asymptotic approximation to the equations of elasticity. Considering
the slenderness as the small parameter, the equations are categorised into
two independent variation problems, corresponding to the (i) cross-
sectional, small deformation and (ii) longitudinal and large deformation
analyses.

Computational test has been carried out for fluid structure interaction
between an elastic body and laminar incompressible flow by Turek and
Hron (2015). They used a configuration consisting of incompressible
laminar channel flow around an elastic object which leads to self-induced
oscillation in the structure. The solid body with elastic part was
submerged in channel flow which results in self-induced oscillation and
deformation in body. They provide many displacement – Time graph at
different working condition and along different direction.

Sangeetha et. Al (July-August,2015) explains the Fluid-Structure

Interaction on AGARD 445.6 wing at Transonic Speeds. Since extensive
research has been done in the field of aero-elasticity using this model, this
configuration was chosen. The main objective of this paper was to study
the fluid structure interaction over the wing of aircraft and determine the
10
aero elastic properties through modelling as well as analysing the
AGARD 445.6 wing structure using CATIA V5 to generate the solid
model and the stress analysis was done using ANSYS-FLUENT.

Schuster et al (1990) analysed the aeroelastic static effect on fighter

aircraft by using 3-dimensional Navier-Stoke’s algoritham. They
developed and tested an aeroelastic analysis method for extreme flight
conditions for fighter aircraft, which is operating at flight conditions
where shock, boundary layer separation, vortices and even high unsteady
flow might be present. They found very encouraging result when
compared their results with static tunnel data on an aeroelastically tailored
wing and fuselage configuration.

Aeroelastic analysis of transonic wings were done by Garcia and

Guruswamy (1999). They adopted Navier-Stokes equations and a
nonlinear beam finite element model for analysis of wing. The nonlinear
beam element result was validated with analytical solutions. They studied
three different high aspect ratio wings and demonstrate the tightly coupled
approach on these wings. Result showed that by shortening the effective
span and twist of the wing, will affects the aeroelastic properties of swept
and unswept wings.

R. S. Raja (2012) explains the FSI analysis that has been conducted on a
typical slender cylindrical structural member used either as a leg or brace
of truss structure of offshore. The members supported the structure were
subjected to loads induced by the wave. They observed fatigue in existing
structure due to this gradual interaction. The analysis was done by using
partitioned method, where two ways coupling was adopted to simulate the
flow over the cylindrical object subjected by ocean wave loads.

Wing design was optimized for large endurance unmanned aerial vehicle
by Lee et. al (2016) by Fluid structure interaction analysis. FSI and some
other techniques was adopted to optimise the aspect ratio of wing shape
on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with the aim of minimum cruise
drag. The fluid solution was solved by Euler’s solver and structural
analysis was performed by using FEM solver. Sample points were
selected by Design of Experiment (DOE) method to generate an
approximate model.

M. C. Reese (July,2010) presented an experimental assessment of two-

dimensional theories and trends concerning hydro-elastic response of a
cantilever hydrofoil in uniform flow. An aluminium NACA 66 hydrofoil
with geometry similar to those found on sea-surface and an undersea
vehicle was used to determine modal parameters under the conditions of
both flow-induced and mechanical vibrations. He also analysed the in-air
structural damping factors, fluid-loaded and uniform flow cases.
11
Glauret published data on the force and moment acting on a cylindrical
body due to an arbitrary motion. In 1934, Theodorsens provide exact
solution for wing with a flap and oscillated harmonically. Flutter due to
torsion was first investigated by Glauret in 1929, which was further
discussed in detail by Smilg. Several kinds of single degree of freedom
flutter of control surfaces at both subsonic and supersonic speeds have
been found. All flutter fulfilled the special criteria such as condition of
location of rotational axis, condition of reduced frequency and condition
of moment of inertia of the system. They observed Pure bending flutter is
in cantilever swept wing, when wing was at high swept angle and
relatively heavier than the surrounding air.

Mechanical pressure loading due to fluid flow over turbine blade causes
torque on the turbine shaft of hydro turbine was explained by Schmucker
et. al (October-November,2010). This fluid loading leads to structural
load on the component which in deflects the blade of turbine. Finite
element analysis was used to calculate the mechanical stresses and
deflection of the turbine blade by using commercial software ANSYS
CFD with one way coupled approach and reverse influence of
deformation of fluid was neglected. They analysed the influence of fluid
deformation by two-way coupled Fluid structure interaction simulations
of propeller turbine. The FSI simulation has done by coupling of
commercial solvers ANSYS CFX for the fluid mechanical simulation and
ANSYS Classic for the structure mechanical simulation and much
comparative result was presented for various stiffness of blade and by
changing the Young’s modulus of the blade.

Coupled effect of hydrofoil and flowing fluid was investigated by

Liaghat et. al (November,2010) by using two way fluid structure
interaction by ANSYS. Logarithmic decrement method was adopted to
estimate the damping co-efficient of the hydrofoil by considering damped
free vibration. Different types of meshes were used to solve the problem
and to see influence of mesh. They concluded that finer mesh must be
used to solve high fluid velocity problems. They also observed the effect
of time step and based on this concludes that by choosing small time step
results can be approximated with experimental results.

To predict and simulate the flutter characteristics of an aeroelastic system,

a coupled CFD-CSD programme was used by the Liu et. al (March-
April,2001). They simulate two-dimensional airfoil and three dimensional
AGARD 445.6 wing at transonic speed of flow. Good agreement with
experimental data was observed for flutter speed and frequency, on
AGARD 445.6 wing at subsonic as well as transonic speed, while at
supersonic speed both flutter speed and frequency had been found greater
than the results found by experiment.

Coupled fluid structure method was used by Yun and Hui (April,2011)
to analyse the flutter characteristics of vibration in turbomachinery blade.

12
An aeroelastic model of blade vibration was developed to solve the three-
dimensional RANS equations and to evaluate aerodynamic forces on the
blade. The equation of fluid dynamics and structure dynamics was
integrated for simulation. Rotor blade was seen to be stable at peak
efficiency and at stall with 100 percent rotational speed in flutter analysis
of blade. They concluded that coupled fluid-structure method was capable
in predicting the blade stability and also in computing the magnitude of
amplitude and frequency.

Hydraulic instabilities ofa slide gate chain was analysed by Hubner et. al
(2010) by adopting monolithic coupling of fluid and structure. They said
that natural frequency of system might be 50 percent less in water than in
air and damping effect due to induction of flow might be higher than
structural damping. They concluded that flowing fluid should be consider
while identifying the hydrodynamic damping effects and hydroelastic
instabilities.

Matthew et al (Oct 2005) gives studied modern numerical techniques for

simulation of aero-elastic phenomena is presented. This review was
focused to coupling computational fluid dynamics codes to computational
structural mechanics codes by arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE)
method.

Based on literature review we can observe that the method of fluid

structure interaction plays a vital role in the analysis of many complex
problems, especially in the case of research in mechanical and
aeronautical stream. The details of present studies given in the following
chapters.

13
 CHAPTER-3

THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

3.1 CFD and Fluid Model

The fluid flow problems and transport phenomena are governed by basic
conservation principles such as mass conservation, energy and momentum
conservation. These are the partial differential equations which are solved
at each grid point and gives the mean value of physical properties at each
node of grid. All these conservation equations are solved which is based
upon the fluid model and formed a set of partial differential equations
known as governing equations of the fluid.

3.2 Mass Conservation Principle and Continuity Equation

The mass conservation principle states that mass will remains conserved
in the system, it means the rate of mass entering in a fluid element is equal
to the net rate of flow of mass going out to the fluid element. When we
apply this physical principle to a fluid model a differential equation is
formed, which is called as continuity equation. For a compressible fluid
flow the continuity equation can be written as follows:

𝜕𝜌
+div (ρu) = 0
𝜕𝑡

Where,  is the fluid density and u is the velocity of the flowing fluid.
First term of equation is known as rate of change of density with respect
to time and the second term is net flow of mass going out of the element
boundaries.

3.3 Newton’s Second Law and Momentum Equation

Newton’s second law states that the rate of change of momentum of a

fluid particle equals to the sum of the forces acting on the particle. The
forces acting on a body are a combination of both surface forces and body
forces. When this law is applied for Newtonian fluid where viscous stress
is proportional to the rates of deformation, the resulting equations are
called as Navier-Stokes equations and it is valid for both compressible

14
 flow and incompressible flow. The equations given below shows the
momentum conservation principle

𝜕(𝜌𝑢) 𝜕𝜌
+div (ρUu) = -𝜕𝑥 + div (µ grad u) +𝑆𝑀𝑥
𝜕𝑡

𝜕(𝜌𝑣) 𝜕𝜌
+div (ρUv) = -𝜕𝑦 + div (µ grad v) +𝑆𝑀𝑦
𝜕𝑡

𝜕(𝜌𝑤) 𝜕𝜌
+div (ρUw) = - 𝜕𝑧 + div (µ grad w) +𝑆𝑀𝑧
𝜕𝑡

Where,  is the density of fluid, U represents the velocity vector and u, v

and w, are the velocity components in X, Y and Z direction respectively.
 Represents dynamic viscosity of fluid and 𝑆𝑀 represents the momentum
source term which could be occurs due to body forces.

3.4 Finite Volume Method

Finite volume method is a numerical technique used in well-established

commercial computational fluid dynamics codes for the purpose of
solving the governing differential equations of the fluid flow. The first
step involved in CFD is to divide the domain of computation into number
of smaller regions, they are called as control volumes or cells and the
collection of these cells is known as grid or a mesh.

Fluent uses the finite volume technique to convert the general transport
equation in to a system of algebraic equations and it uses different
iterative methods to solve the algebraic equations. Key steps involves to
find the solution for the transport equation of a physical quantity are
mentioned below

The steps are as follows:

 Division of geometry in to smaller regions (control volumes) using a

computational mesh.

 Integration of the governing equations of fluid over all the control

volumes of the domain.
 Discretization – conversion of the resulting integral equations in to a
system of algebraic equations.
 Finding a solution to the system of algebraic equations by an iterative
method.
 The general form of transport equation in conservative form can be
written as
𝜕(𝜌Ø)
+div (ρ Ø u) = div (Ʈ grad Ø) +𝑆Ø
𝜕𝑡
15
Where the variable Ø can be replaced by any scalar quantity, is the
diffusion coefficient. The left hand side of the equation contains the rate
of change term and convective term, whereas the diffusive term and
source term lie on the right hand side of the equation. Integrating over the
control volume and applying the Gauss’s divergence theorem on the
general transport equation gives

𝜕
𝜕𝑡
∫ρ Ø dV + ∫𝐴 𝑛 (ρ Ø u)dA = ∫𝐴 𝑛 (Ʈ grad Ø) dA +
∫𝐶𝑉 𝑆Ø 𝑑𝑉

3.5 Turbulence Model

The present study deals with turbulent flow. Turbulent flows consist of
fluctuations in the flow field in time and space. Turbulent flow is a very
complex flow. The complexity in flow arises mainly because of three
dimensional, unsteady and it consists of more than one scales. It could
have significant effects on the flow characteristics.

Turbulent flow occurs when the inertia forces in the fluid will be greater
or dominating when compared to viscous forces, which leads to flow of
high Reynolds Number. The Navier-Stokes equations describe laminar
flow as well as turbulent flow without the need of additional information.
Turbulence models was developed to account the effects of turbulence
without recourse to a prohibitively fine mesh and direct numerical
simulation. The most important approaches to simulate turbulence are
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models, large eddy simulation
(LES) models and detached-eddy simulation (DES) models. In present
case, the RANS models are used.

3.6 Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) Equations

Assuming that the density fluctuations are negligible, the equations for
transient flow can be averaged. A modified set of transport equations is
formed by taking averaged and fluctuating components of velocity and
can be solved for transient simulation.

V= 𝑉̅ +𝑉′

𝜕(𝜌) ̅𝑗 )
𝜕(𝜌𝑉
+ =0
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥𝑗

16
 ̅𝑖 )
𝜕(𝜌𝑉 ̅̅̅̅𝑗 )
𝜕(𝜌𝑉𝑉 𝜕𝜌 ̅̅̅̅̅̅𝑗 )
𝜕(σ𝑖𝑗 −𝜌𝑉′𝑉′
+ = -𝜕𝑥 + + 𝑆𝑀
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝑖 𝜕𝑥𝑗

Where 𝑉𝑖 are the velocity components, σ is the stress tensor including both
normal and shear components of the stress, p is the pressure, 𝑆𝑀 is the
momentum source.

3.7 K-Epsilon (k-ε) Turbulence Model

This model has very good convergence rate and its required relatively less
memory when compared to other available turbulence model hence for
simulation of mean flow characteristics of turbulent flow it is widely
adopted in computational fluid dynamics. It uses two transport partial
differential equation to completely simulate the turbulent flow and to
provide general information of turbulence. Its main purpose is to improve
the mixing-length of model, as well as to form an alternative way for
prescribing the turbulent length scales in moderate to high flow
complexity.

 The first transported variable (k) represents the turbulence kinetic energy.

 The second transported variable (ε) represents the rate of dissipation of

turbulence kinetic energy.

For turbulent kinetic energy k

𝜕(𝜌𝜅) 𝜕(𝜌𝜅𝑢𝑖) 𝜕 µ 𝜕𝜅
𝜕𝑡
+ 𝜕𝑥𝑖
=𝜕𝑥 [𝜎 𝑡 𝜕𝑥
] + 2µ𝑡 𝐸𝑖𝑗 𝐸𝑖𝑗 – ρε
𝑗 𝑘 𝑗

For dissipation ε

𝜕(𝜌ε) 𝜕(𝜌ε𝑢𝑖) 𝜕 µ𝑡 𝜕ε ε 𝜀2
+ = [ ] + 𝐶1ε 2µ𝑡 𝐸𝑖𝑗 𝐸𝑖𝑗 – 𝐶2ερ
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥𝑖 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜎ε 𝜕𝑥𝑗 𝜅 𝜅

Where

𝑢𝑖, Represents velocity component in corresponding direction

𝐸𝑖𝑗, Represents component of rate of deformation

µ𝑡, Represents eddy viscosity.

The k-ε model has been used specifically for planar shear layer and flows
with recirculation zone. This model is used widely and
validated turbulence model with wide range of applications in industrial
and environmental flows, its shows its popularity. It is generally useful in
free-shear layer flows with small pressure gradients as well as in confined
17
flows where the Reynolds shear stresses are important. It required supply
of only initial and/or boundary conditions so we can say it is relatively
simple than other available turbulence model.

3.8 Realizable k-ε Model

An immediate benefit of the realizable k-ɛ model is that it provides

improved predictions for the spreading rate of both planar and round jets.
It also exhibits superior performance for flows involving rotation,
boundary layers under strong adverse pressure gradients, separation, and
recirculation. In virtually every measure of comparison, Realizable k-ɛ
demonstrates a superior ability to capture the mean flow of the complex
structures.

3.9 K-ω Model

This model is similar to the k-ɛ model, but the difference is, it solve for
the specific rate of dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy. In this model
ω represents the specific rate of dissipation of kinetic energy. It is
generally a low Reynold’s number model and more nonlinear than k-ɛ
model, therefore relatively difficult to converge. The K-ω model
employed in many cases, where k-ɛ model does not provides accurate
results. Such as in the case of internal flow.

3.10 Finite Element Method and Structural Model

Study of behaviour of structures under the influence of loads is known as

structural dynamics. The current work involves the transient dynamic
analysis which determines the structural response under the impulse load.
In general two types of loads acts on any structural member. The first one
is static load which do not vary with time and provide enough time to
structure to respond against the load, while the second one is dynamic
load, which changes with time quickly when compared to the static loads.
Impulse load is a kind of dynamic loads which acts on the structure or
system with greater magnitude within a short interval of time. Through
this analysis, the time history of responses such as displacement, stress,
strain of structure can be calculated. The equilibrium equation for multi
degree of freedom system is given as

𝜕𝜎𝑥𝑥 𝜕𝜎𝑥𝑦 𝜕𝜎𝑥𝑧 𝜕2 𝑢

+ + +𝑓𝑥 = 𝜌 𝜕2 𝑡 in x-direction
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧

18
 𝜕𝜎𝑥𝑦 𝜕𝜎𝑦𝑦 𝜕𝜎𝑦𝑧 𝜕2 𝑣
+ + + 𝑓𝑦 = 𝜌 𝜕2 𝑡 in y-direction
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧

𝜕𝜎𝑥𝑧 𝜕𝜎𝑦𝑧 𝜕𝜎𝑧𝑧 𝜕2 𝑤

+ + + 𝑓𝑧 = 𝜌 in z-direction
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑧 𝜕2 𝑡

Where, 𝑓𝑥 , 𝑓𝑦 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑧 are the body forces in x, y and z direction

respectively.

It is normal practice to use a numerical technique called finite element

method (FEM) to find the solution for equation. The basic principle
behind this method of finding an approximate solution to the differential
equations is to divide the volume of a structure or system in to smaller
(finite) elements such that infinite number of degree of freedoms is
converted to a finite value. The sequence of steps involved in solving the
equation of motion is as follows:

First steps involve conversion of a structure member into a system of

finite elements, which are connected at the nodes and then defining the
degree of freedom at these nodes.

Second step involves determination of stiffness matrix, mass matrix, and

force vector for each element in a mesh with reference to the degree of
freedom for the elements

The force –displacement relationship and inertia force- acceleration

relationship for each elements can be written as

(𝑓𝑠 ) = 𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑒 (𝑓𝑠 ) = 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑒

Where, 𝑘𝑒 is the element stiffness matrix, 𝑚𝑒 is the element mass

matrix , 𝑢𝑒 and 𝑢̈ are the displacement and acceleration vector for the
element respectively.

Formation of transformation matrix (Boolean matrix contains zeros and

ones) that connects the values of each element in to the global finite
element assemblage. It simply locates the elements of, 𝑘𝑒 , 𝑚𝑒 and 𝑢𝑒 at the
proper places of the global matrices. For instance the elemental
displacements 𝑢𝑒 can be related to global matrix u through the following
expression

𝑢𝑒 = 𝑎𝑒 u

Assembling of element matrices to evaluate the global stiffness, mass

matrices and applied force vector for the final assemblage

k=𝐴𝑁
𝑒=1 𝑘𝑒 m=𝐴𝑁
𝑒=1 𝑚𝑒
19
 p(t)=𝐴𝑁
𝑒=1 𝑝𝑒 (t)

Where A is an operator responsible for assembly process. According to

the transformation matrix 𝑎𝑒 , the element mass matrix, element stiffness
matrix and element force vector are placed in the respective global
matrices and the arrangement is based on the number of an each element e
 1 to Ne, where Ne is the number of elements.

The final equation of motion with the global matrices is formulated as in

the form of basic governing equation. This equation can be solved for u (t)
using an appropriate iteration schemes which gives the response of system
in term of nodal displacement values.

3.11 System Coupling

In ANSYS Workbench, the FSI (two-way coupling) analysis can be

performed by connecting the coupling participants to a component system
called System Coupling. A participant system is a system which either
feeds or receives data in a coupled analysis. Here, Fluent (participant 1)
and ANSYS Mechanical (participant 2) are acting as coupling
participants. Figure-3 depicts the work flow of a FSI simulation using
System Coupling with coupling participant. Initially, system coupling
collects information from the participants to synchronize the whole set up
of simulation and then the information to be exchanged are given to the
respective participant. The next step of the work process is organizing the
sequence of exchange of information. The solution part of the chart varies
for different ways of coupling. Finally, the convergence of coupling step
is evaluated at end of the every coupling iteration.

Figure-3.1: System Coupling Flowchart

Two-way coupling has a more intrinsic solving facility as any time step
(coupling step) is launched, Fluent acquires a converged solution
according to its own criterion of the convergence and transfers the fluid
forces to ANSYS Mechanical. Then the displacement value of a structural
member is obtained with help of the solution provided by Fluent for the
same time step. The calculated solution of ANSYS Mechanical is given

20
back to the Fluent to determine a new set of fluid forces according to
nodal displacements of previous time step. This is said to be a coupling
iteration and continues until the convergence criterion of data transfer is
reached.

3.12 Data Transfer

Data transfer between the coupled participants is one of the critical parts
of an FSI analysis. At the interface of the two mediums, the information
has to be exchanged between two different meshes of different mediums.
This is carried out by a systematic sequence and it includes some sub
processes.

The first process of the data transfer is to match or pair the source and
target mesh to generate weights. The source mesh feeds the data to the
target mesh and this matching is done by two different mapping
algorithms in System Coupling according to the nature of the data
transferred.

The first algorithm is called the General Grid interface (GGI) which uses
the method of dividing the element faces of both target and source sides
into n (number of nodes on each side) integration points (IP). These three
dimensional IP faces are converted into two dimensional quadrilaterals,
which are made up of rows and columns of pixels. Pixels of both target
and source sides are intersected to get overlapping areas called control
surfaces. Finally, mapping weight contributions are determined for each
control surface by the amount of pixel interactions, these interactions are
accumulated to get the value of mapping weights for each node. The
mapping weights generated by this algorithm are conservative in nature,
so it is used as a default algorithm in Workbench for transferring the
quantities like forces, mass and momentum. The conservative nature of
GGI algorithm is shown Figure 3.2.

Figure-3.2: conservative nature of GGI algorithm

21
The next one is the `Smart Bucket algorithm’ shown in Figure-5; in this
algorithm, the process of computing the mapping weights starts by
dividing the target mesh in to a grid of buckets (simple group of elements
on a mesh). Then mapping weights are computed for each node on the
source mesh which is already associated with the buckets of target mesh.
Two cases of buckets can exist i.e. empty (no element inside it) and non-
empty (contain elements) bucket. In the latter case, the source node is
matched to one or more elements in the bucket of target mesh and this is
executed by iso-parametric mapping. For the case of an empty bucket, the
closest non-empty bucket is identified and the same procedure is followed
using iso-parametric mapping. Due to the profile preserving nature of the
generated mapping weights, this is used as a default algorithm in
Workbench for transferring the non-conserved quantities such as
displacement, temperature and stress.

Figure-3.3: Profile preserving nature of smart bucket algorithm

It can be concluded that the fine mesh must be used on the sending side
when conservative algorithm is used in order to send as much information
as possible, on other hand for the profile preserving algorithm, the
receiving side should have the refined mesh for the purpose of capturing
sufficient information. Finally, interpolation algorithms are accountable
for target node values with the help of source data and mapping weights
generated by any one of the above algorithms

3.13 Time Advancement Schemes

There are three classes of methods for advancing a time-accurate

fluid/structure simulation forward in time: the monolithic approach, the
fully coupled approach, and the loosely coupled approach.

In the monolothic approach for aeroelasticity problems, the fluid and

structure equations of motions are viewed as a single equation set and
solved using a unified solver. From the computer code’s point of view, a
structural element is differentiated from a fluid element or control volume
22
only by the difference in variables and spatial representation scheme for
each type of element. The primary advantage of a monolithic approach is
that fully consistent coupling is preserved; that is, the fluid and structure
are perfectly synchronized while advancing a single time step. This
usually leads to enhanced robustness, stability, and larger allowable time
steps.

The fully coupled approach also synchronizes the fluid and structure
systems at each time step, but does so using a partitioned scheme. In a
partitioned scheme, the fluid and structure code modules are separate,
with fluid loads and structural displacements transferred back and forth
within a single time step. The solvers for the fluid and structure systems
are entirely separate and may be constructed for efficiency in each case. In
the fully coupled approach, sub-iterations are performed until the entire
system is fully converged. The fully coupled approach retains the
synchronicity property of the monolithic scheme but also has the
advantages of a partitioned scheme, namely improved code
maintainability and algorithmic flexibility for physically disparate
systems.

The loosely coupled approach is similar to the fully coupled approach

because it, too, is a partitioned method. However, the fluid/structure
system is not sub-iterated to full convergence at each time step. Instead,
the fluid and structure system exchange data one, or maybe two, times
within a time step. The fluid and structure solution updates are lagged, or
staggered, resulting in lower computational cost per time step than a fully
coupled approach. The two systems are never fully in phase, and this
introduces a temporal error in addition to the truncation error of the fluid
and structure integration schemes. Care must be taken to maintain both
accuracy and stability when constructing a loosely coupled scheme.

A lagged approach not only introduces additional error, but may also
result in a system that is not dynamically equivalent to the physical
system. Unless the time lag is sufficiently small, spurious numerical
solutions may exist. However, loosely coupled approaches have been
successfully demonstrated on an array of aero-elasticity problems and the
dynamic equivalence argument does not appear to be of great practical
importance. In addition to the already mentioned advantages of a
partitioned approach, the primary advantage of a loosely coupled scheme
is the relatively small computational expense per time step.

3.14 Re-Meshing

Re-meshing of the volume mesh is an alternative to the spring and

structural analogy methods. Re-meshing techniques generate a new mesh
23
each time the boundary moves based on the prescribed boundary motion
and the geometry of the problem, rather than on any type of structural
analogy.

CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A brief introduction to the overall method is given in this section.

Initially, geometric models of both fluid and solid domains are created
with appropriate dimensions. Design modeller OF ANSYS are used to
create the geometries models. The surface and volume mesh of fluid
domain are formed using ANSYS Fluent and the finite element mesh is
created by ANSYS Meshing. The two computational meshes differ with
parameters such as cell type, cell size and mesh resolution. The completed
meshes are imported to the respective numerical solvers where the
simulation setup of a model is implemented. The simulation setup
includes essential steps such as assigning the material properties,
boundary conditions and numerical schemes for the two different models.
At the end of the simulation setup, the fluid model consists of mediums
air where the wing is placed inside the fluid domain such that the flow
passes the plate within desired time period, whereas the structural model
is a simple plate member with one ends fixed in position. Finally, the two
solvers are coupled in Workbench using System Coupling to exchange the
data according to the type of coupling.

4.1 Geometry

Wing is generated by using NACA 2412 aerofoil of chord length 500 mm

and span of 1000 mm in design modeller. The NACA 2412 aerofoil is part
of the NACA 4 digit series of airfoil classifications. The four digits are
determined the characteristics of the airfoil in terms of percentage of
length of the chord. NACA 2412 determines that the airfoil has a
maximum camber of 2% of chord length, located at 40% of chord from
24
the leading edge, with a maximum thickness of 12%. Of chord. The fluid
domain is made as a square prism of 2m in which the rectangular plate of
dimension 7.5m x 2m x 0.2m is placed inside at 20 degree angle of attack.
Figure shows a closer view of the plate fixed at one side. Fluid domain is
created in order to make a refined mesh around the structural member.

Figure-4.1: Wing inside a fluid domain

4.2 Computational Mesh

In CFD mesh, the surface mesh is first created by taking triangular

elements, which is then used to create a volume mesh. The volume mesh
is made up by tetrahedral cells which belongs in category of unstructured
mesh. Unlike the structured mesh, the cells of unstructured mesh cannot
be identified using i, j, k index. The mesh of the entire computational fluid
domain is shown below.

25
 Figure-4.2: Meshing over the wing

Figure-4.3: Meshing over fluid domain

4.3 Simulation Setup

The computational work of this project is divided in to two parts, the first
part deals with the CFD model and the other is with the structural model.
Subsequently, the simulation setups of this work also follow the same
partition which is explained in the below sections.

4.4 Material Properties

The important properties of both air used in this simulation are shown in
Table

Table-4.1: Fluid property

26
4.5 Turbulence Modelling Setup

The theoretical explanation of turbulent flow and its modelling is given in

Table

Turbulent model K-epsilon model

Near wall treatment Scalable wall function

Table-4.2: Turbulence modelling setup

4.6 Boundary Conditions

The boundary conditions applied on the boundaries of the fluid domain i.e
velocity inlet and pressure outlet in span wise direction and the rest of the
faces of fluid domain are wall.

4.7 Solver Setup

Commercial available software FLUENT were used as a numerical solver

to solve the fluid structure interaction over rectangular plate and tapered
wing. Computation were performed using finite element method to solve
the continuity, momentum and Reynold’s averaged navier stroke equation
at different grid point.

The table 4.3 shows the method adopted for temporal and spatial
discretization schemes used in analysis in fluent. The number of time
steps used is 100 with step size of 0.01.

Temporal Discretization Second order implicit

Pressure-Velocity Coupling Simple
Spatial Discretization
Pressure Second order
Momentum Second order upwind
Volume Fraction Compressive
Turbulent Kinetic energy (κ) First order upwind
Turbulent Dissipation rate (ε) First order upwind

27
 Table-4.3: Discretization Scheme used in fluent

4.8 ANSYS Mechanical Setup

Figure-4.4: Structural member setup

Figure-4.4: shows the overall simulation setup of the structural member.

The one edges of the wing are fixed and the calculated fluid forces are
applied on the surface of the wing which is described as a fluid solid
interface. Apart from this, it follows the same transient setups like time
step size and end time as in Fluent.

4.9 System Coupling Setup

System coupling is a coupling tool used in Workbench to integrate

different domain solvers in multi-physics simulations. The working
principle and procedure of System Coupling is shown in Figure.

28
 Figure-4.5: FSI analysis setup using system coupling

Figure-4.5: depicts the FSI analysis setup of this project work using
System coupling with Fluent and ANSYS mechanical as numerical
solvers. Initially, the simulation setups of both solvers in the preceding
sections are executed, and then the setup component of the solvers is
integrated into the setup component of System Coupling as shown. This
makes the System Coupling to synchronize the numerical conditions of
both solvers and to identify the fluid structure interface. The next step is to
assign the simulation setups in System coupling. This consists of three main
steps
.
 Analysis Settings: This setting includes time step size, end time and
maximum & minimum number of coupling iteration for each time step.
Generally, other than the coupling iteration for each time step, the required
information is automatically fed in to System Coupling once the solvers are
coupled.

 Data transfer: This is the most vital part of the coupling device which
includes and manages the data transfer sequence between two numerical
solvers. This data transfer process varies with the type of coupling. Figure-
4.6: shows the data transfer for one-way and two-way coupling analyses.
One-way coupling analysis is carried out with single-way data transfer from
Fluent to ANSYS Mechanical which transfers the forces, whereas two-way
coupling has data transfer in both direction i.e. first one from Fluent to
ANSYS Mechanical (forces) and the second one is from ANSYS Mechanical
to Fluent (nodal displacements).

29
 Simulation sequence: The working sequence of the numerical solvers should
be given here as an input.

Figure-4.6: Properties of Data Transfer

30
 CHAPTER 5

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 FSI Analysis of Rectangular Plate:

FSI analysis was made on rectangular plate at flow speed taken as Mach =
0.46, the one end of plate was kept clamped while the other end remains
free. The contour of total deformation, elastic strain and maximum shear
stress obtained by post processing is shown in figure 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3
respectively. From figure 5.1 we can see that the free end is deformed
more as compare to fixed end, as we expected. Deformation intensity of
the plate reduces from tip to fixed end.

Figure 5.1: Total deformation contour

31
 Figure 5.2: Elastic Strain Contour

Figure5.3:Maximum Shear Stress Contour

The displacement or deformation pattern of the rectangular plate structure

with the time series is shown in figure 5.4. Here plot shows with increase
in time deformation on structure reduces. Initially plate deformation is
maximum but with respect to time it reduces exponentially on both
32
positive and negative sense. In other word we can say that deformation is
damped out and achieved the some equilibrium mean deformation. This
shows the dynamic nature of system which we already named as flutter
tendency in chapter 1.

Figure-5.4: Displacement vs time curve

Linear relationship has been observed between stress and strain on the
system shown in figure 5.5. The equivalent stress of the system was
almost 80 MPa with corresponding strain is 0.004. Point “B” represents
equivalent state of system. The co-ordinate of point “B” gives the exact
magnitude of equivalent strain and stress respectively.

33
 Figure-5.5: Stress vs Strain curve

Figure-5.6: Stress vs time curve

Figure 5.6 represents the post processing result of stress variation with
time. The pattern of this graph is similar to the graph of figure 5.4 i.e.
deformation versus time graph. From stress vs time graph we can see the
fluctuating characteristics of stress in some interval of time. It will also
dampen out exponentially and finally reached to equivalent state after 6.5
seconds, as shown by vertical bold line. Point “B” in the graph represents
the time required to reach in equivalent state.

34
5.2 FSI Analysis of wing

FSI analysis of swept back wing has been done by passing the flow over it
at Mach 0.46. Chord length of wing is greater at the root, which is
considered here as fixed end. At the free end chord length is smaller
compared to root. Same airfoil of NACA 2412 series has been taken from
root to tip to design the wing, with varying chord length. The post
processing results are presented in this section. The data was collected
after the 10 sec from flow starts to accelerated.

Figure 5.7 represents the total deformation contour of swept wing after the
10 sec of flow of air passing over it with a speed of around 150 m/s. The
contour shows the maximum deformation at the tip of the wing, which is
around 2.5 mm. Displacement of structure, reduces from tip to root and it
went to almost zero at the root as we expected.

Figure-5.7: Total deformation contour

Figure 5.8 and 5.9 represents the equivalent stress and equivalent strain
contour of the system. Maximum stress has been observed at the root of
the wing, near the centre of the chord. The magnitude of stresses has been
seen reducing from this point as parabolic zones. A parabolic region of
same colour represents the same value of equivalent stress. Near the
35
leading edge, trailing edge and tip of the wing, least value of equivalent
stress has been observed. Since strain will always be directly proportional
to the strain, so same pattern of equivalent strain can be seen

Figure 5.8: Equivalent stress contour

In figure 5.9. Maximum value of equivalent elastic strain of magnitude

0.00019 was found at the root of wing near the half of chord of wing.
Variation of displacement with respect to time has plotted in figure 5.10.
We can see the transient condition of displacement during the time
interval 0 sec to 1.5sec. After 1.5 sec the transient condition dies out and
system becomes stable with an equivalent displacement of the system was
around 2.5mm. So after initial transient dies out the system represents the
static characteristics of aeroelasticity.

36
 Figure 5.9: Equivalent Elastic Strain contour

Figure 5.10: Displacement vs time curve

Figure 5.11 shows the variation of stress with strain plot and sit shows the
linear variation of stress with strain or vice-versa or in other words we can
say that there would be a linear relationship exists between stress and
strain.
37
 Figure 5.11: Stress vs Strain Plot

The variation of equivalent stress with time has represented in figure 5.12.
Initial variation in equivalent stress can be observed by the plot. When
flow started over the wing, initial magnitude of equivalent stress was
around 26 MPa but after some interval of time it becomes stable and
reached to maximum value of around 40 MPa.

38
 Figure 5.12: Stress vs time curv

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION

Post processing result of FSI analysis over both rectangular plate and
wing structure gives the contour of total deformation, Elastic strain,
Maximum shear stress and plot of Displacement vs Time, Stress vs Time,
Stress vs Time and Stress vs time. Comparison of graph, plots and contour
of plate and wing are listed in current section.

 Total deformation contour of rectangular plate shows the maximum

deformation of magnitude 53.448 mm near the tip and minimum is 6 mm
near the root. Contour shows the uniform deformation along the chord at
each section of plate. While deformation contour of wing shows the
abruptly reduced value of both maximum and minimum deformation. The
magnitude of maximum and minimum deformation is 2.5 mm and 0 mm
respectively.

 Result of elastic strain contour of rectangular plate shows the maximum

value is 0.00038 at the trailing edge of plate near the root and minimum
value is 4.447 × 10-8 near the tip of the plate. While maximum value of
elastic strain on the wing is 0.00019 at the root near the half of the chord
and minimum value is 2.12 × 10-8. Minimum value of elastic strain in the
plate remains uniform along the chord of plate while value of elastic strain
remains minimum in small region of leading edge and trailing edge of
wing along the span and remains uniform at the tip along the chord. So
here again we conclude that the magnitude of maximum and minimum
strain on the wing is lower than that of the plate.

 Maximum value of equivalent shear stress on the plate is occurs at the

trailing edge of the plate near thee root and near the tip section value of
shear stress is minimum. While in the maximum shear stress acts at the
root near the half of chord of the airfoil and shear stress is minimum in
small region of leading edge and trailing edge of the wing along the whole
span and remains uniform at the tip along the chord. The maximum value
of equivalent shear stress is almost same on both plate and wing while the
minimum value is lower for the wing section.

 Displacement versus time plot also provides concluding remarks that

small deformation persists on the wing. Equivalent displacement on the
plate reached to equilibrium condition by dampening exponentially. While
on the wing it first increases and reached to equivalent condition and
remains same for the remaining time of flow.

39
 Stress versus time plot of rectangular blade shows the maximum value of
equivalent shear stress is 75 MPa, which will reach after 6.5 seconds
when the initial transient is dies out. It also dampens exponentially. While
on the wing it keep increasing in a short interval of time, reached to
maximum value of around 39 MPa and remains same for the rest of the
time. The value of equivalent stress is also observed minimum for the
wing compared to plate from stress versus time plot.

40
 CHAPTER 7
FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK

The flutter analysis of wind turbine blade using fluid structure interaction.
The aero-elastic stability analysis gives aero-elastic frequency and
damping of blade, where the negative damping in mode shapes gives
prone to ability of flutter, thereby neglecting negative damping it is
possible to overcome the fluttering phenomenon of the blade.

41
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