An arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian finite-element approach for fluid-structure interaction phenomena

The present contribution is concerned with the design of a family of consistent fluid-structure interaction algorithms based on a unique temporal and spatial discretization of the governing equations. The characterization of the moving fluid-structure interface is realized by means of the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian technique. The spatial discretization is performed with the finite-element method, whereby either a first-order upwind scheme or the classical second-order upwind Petrov-Galerkin technique are used to discretize the linearized fluid equations while the standard Bubnov-Galerkin method is applied to the structural equations. In order to streamline coupling, the structure is discretized in a velocity-based fashion. The temporal discretization of both the fluid and the structural equations is embedded in the generalized-alpha framework by making use of classical Newmark approximations in time. To quantify the sources of error of the proposed algorithms, systematic studies in terms of the one-dimensional piston model problem are presented. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.