An Integrated OpenFOAM Membrane Fluid-Structure Interaction Solver

Abstract

The scope of this paper is to present the design and verification of an integrated OpenFOAM membrane fluid-structure interaction (FSI) solver for small deflections, which employs the finite volume method (FVM) for solving the flow field and the finite area method (FAM) for solution of the membrane deflection. A key feature is that both the fluid and the solid solver operate on a common mesh geometry and are included into a single executable. Although the scope of applicability is narrow due to limitations of the membrane solver at its current state, positive verification results prove the practicability of the design, which allows for lightweight implementation as well as simple data transfers and post-processing.