Immersed boundary lattice Boltzmann solver

Context

High fidelity simulation of flexible bodies in turbulent flow needs a solver that stays accurate and stable when the structure is very light, very flexible and free to move a long way. Off the shelf tools struggle with that combination.

My role

I was the CFD engineer building the solver from the mathematical formulation through to a validated, parallel implementation.

Approach

• Lattice Boltzmann formulation for the fluid, chosen for its efficiency in transitional and turbulent regimes at Reynolds numbers from 1,000 to 10,000.
• Finite element treatment of the structural response for large deformation of light, flexible bodies.
• Immersed boundary coupling between the fluid and solid domains, with heat transfer included.
• Validation against benchmark cases: flow past a two dimensional cylinder and three dimensional spheres, a hanging filament, flow induced vibration of an elastic beam behind a cylinder, and a highly flexible plate in axial flow.

Outcome

A validated research solver that underpins three separate studies and the publications that came from them.