Flow-Induced Vibrations of a Flexible Panel in a Boundary-Layer Flow

Abstract

This paper presents the development and use of numerical-simulation methods for the non-linear two dimensional fluid-structure interaction of flexible panels in both uniform and boundary-layer axial flows. The inviscid system is modelled using a combination of Finite difference (FDM) and Boundary-element (BEM) methods for the structural and fluid dynamics respectively. This is then used as the platform for the incorporation of a boundary-layer for which rotationality and viscous effects are added using a Discrete-Vortex Method (DVM). Computational costs are reduced massively through the use of a Fast-multipole (FMM), Generalised Minimum Residual (GMRES) and Newton Krylov (NK) methods in an implicit scheme that is mesh free and can efficiently scale to very large problem sizes. The efficiency of the simulation scheme is demonstrated for divergence of flexible panel. Thereafter, it is shown quantitatively that the laminar boundary yields higher critical flow speeds of divergence-onset than those predicted by potential-flow analyses.