Time domain simulation of coupled sloshing-seakeeping problems by coupling PFEM-2 and SeaFEM

Time domain simulation of coupled sloshing-seakeeping problems by coupling PFEM-2 and SeaFEM

Julio Garcia-Espinosa

Keywords: finite element method, semi-Lagrangian formulation, coupled seakeeping-sloshing

Abstract

The aim of this work is to be able to cope with complex sloshing-seakeeping problems in an effective manner. For this purpose, two different solvers will be integrated into one coupled tool to take advantage of their characteristics.

The Particle Finite Element Method is a versatile framework for the analysis of fluid-structure interaction problems. The latest development within the framework of the PFEM is the X-IVAS (eXplicit Integration along the Velocity and Acceleration Streamlines) scheme. It is a semi-implicit scheme built over a Semi-Lagrangian (SL) formulation. This new scheme was named PFEM-2 and will be used in this work to solve the fluid dynamics (sloshing) inside the tanks.

The PFEM-2 will be coupled in the time domain with SeaFEM, a solver developed for seakeeping problems. SeaFEM solves the second-order diffraction-radiation equations by using the Finite Element Method (FEM) and will be used in this work to simulate the interaction between waves and a floating body.

The coupling of the two tools will be accomplished by using an effective coupling algorithm and a communication technique that allows simulations to be computed without affecting the global compute time and the accuracy of the solvers. This new tool has been validated against experimental benchmarks carried out in a model basin at model scale.

References

[1] Idelsohn, Oñate, E. Del Pin, F. “The particle finite element method: a powerful tool to solve incompressible flows with free‐surfaces and breaking waves”. International journal for numerical methods in engineering, vol. 61-7, pp. 964-989, Oct. 2004.

[2] Idelsohn, S.R., Nigro, N., Limache, A, Oñate, E. “Large time-step explicit integration method for solving problems with dominant convection”. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 217–220, pp. 168–185, Apr. 2012.

[3] Serván-Camas, B. García-Espinosa, J. “Accelerated 3D multi-body seakeeping simulations using unstructured finite elements”. Journal of Computational Physics, vol. 252, pp. 382-403, Nov. 2013.

[4] Serván-Camas, B. “A time-domain finite element method for seakeeping and wave resistance problems”. PhD thesis. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (2016).