A new approach using lattice Boltzmann method to simulate fluid structure interaction

A numerical approach based on the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and volume penalization technique is proposed to tackle the problem of the interaction of a moving rigid cylinder with an incompressible fluid flow. The present methodology was applied to an oscillating rigid cylinder in a fluid flow. Two cases were considered: flow around a cylinder undergoing forced harmonic oscillations, and flow around a cylinder in free oscillations due to the fluid forces at Reynolds number 20. Our results were validated and compared with those obtained from Code_Saturne. To compare the results of the LBM and Code_Saturne, and to ensure that the resolution of the structure would be the same in both simulations, we used the Shiels et al. [12] structure adimensionalisation. The simulations of LBM were implemented for two level refined grid around the cylinder, where the grid refinement technique proposed by Lagrava et al. [11] based on multi-domain approach was chosen. The flow characteristics, the oscillation frequency, the lift and drag coefficients values associated were investigated. A good agreement was found between the compared results.