Fluid Structure Interaction Simulations

with COMSOL

Daniel Ahlman, Ph.D.

Nagi Elabbasi, Ph.D.

COMSOL

Veryst Engineering

2012 COMSOL. COMSOL and COMSOL Multiphysics are registered trademarks of COMSOL AB. Capture the Concept, COMSOL Desktop, and
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Traditional approach to modeling

Electromagnetic
Fields

Acoustics

Heat Transfer

Chemical
Reactions

Fluid Flow

Structural
Mechanics

The COMSOL Multiphysics approach

Electromagnetic
Fields

User Defined
Equations
Acoustics

Heat Transfer

Chemical
Reactions

Fluid Flow

Structural
Mechanics

The COMSOL Multiphysics approach

User Defined
Equations

Electromagnetic
Fields

Acoustics

Heat Transfer

Chemical
Reactions

Structural
Mechanics

Fluid Flow

FSI

Introduction to Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations

POLL QUESTION 1
Which simulation tool do you currently use to model FSI?
COMSOL Multiphysics
Other commercial software
Non-commercial software (in-house code, freeware, open
source, )
None

Different levels of FSI

Small elastic deformation
Fluid flow Solid stress

Large rigid displacement

Rigid structure displacement Fluid flow

Large elastic deformation

Structural deformation Fluid flow

Fluid/solid coupling;

Small elastic deformations

1

1. Solve for fluid flow.

2. Calculate total stresses.

3. Apply fluid stresses on solid boundaries.

3

4. Solve for the displacements in solids.

4

All steps automated in COMSOL!

Fluid-Solid interface on shared mesh
boundary!

Fluid/solid coupling;

Large rigid rotations

1

1. Solve for displacements of the rigid structure to

compute a fluid flow mesh.

2. Apply the velocity of the solid boundaries on the

fluid walls.
3. Solve for fluid flow
4. Repeat for next time step.
3

All steps automated in COMSOL!

Large elastic deformations

1

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Solve for fluid flow.

Calculate total stresses.
Apply fluid stresses on solid boundaries.
Solve for the displacements in solids.
Use the solid displacements to;
Update the fluid flow mesh
Apply the solid boundary velocity to the fluid

6. Repeat until solution converges.

7. If Transient; Compute next time step

4
5

All steps automated

in COMSOL!

POLL QUESTION 2
Which type of solid deformation, or displacement, best defines
your FSI application?
Small elastic deformations (Fluid Solid )

Large rigid displacements (Solid Fluid)

Large elastic deformations (Fluid Solid)

How to handle large elastic deformations?

Account for large deformation in solids

Solve for computational mesh for fluid flow

Large Deformation; Moving mesh

Reference mesh

Structural mechanics

Moving mesh

Fluid flow

Demo Exercise

Obstacle in a flow channel

Modeling overview

Fluid domain
Inlet: u_fluid = f(t,y)

Outlet: p = 0

Solid domain

Lower boundary of solid is fixed.

Top and bottom boundaries of fluid domains are walls, i.e. zero fluid
velocity.

Modeling in COMSOL

 INSERT DEMO

FSI Analysis of a Peristaltic Pump

Veryst Engineering , LLC
Engineering Through the Fundamentals

Nagi Elabbasi, Ph.D.

nelabbasi@veryst.com
www.veryst.com

Peristaltic Pumps
Valuable for pumping abrasive fluids, corrosive fluids
and delicate fluids
Rugged pump design requiring minimal maintenance
Used in pharmaceutical, petrochemical, biomedical and
food processing industries

Veryst
Engineering

Pump Modeling
Nonlinear, coupled fluid-structure interaction
Structural nonlinearities include:
Tube material behavior
Contact
Large deformations

Important to know tube stresses and strains for lifetime

prediction
Optimal design depends on fluid properties and flow rate

Veryst
Engineering

Rotary Peristaltic Pump Model

Veryst
Engineering

Two metallic rollers and an

elastomeric tube pumping
a viscous Newtonian fluid
at a speed of 60 Hz
Model setup
parametrically using native
COMSOL geometry

Tube Modeling

Fixed boundary

Hyperelastic tube

Fixed along outermost

edge for simplicity
Fixed boundary

Veryst
Engineering

Tube material one of

main limiting factors
affecting pump
performance
Typically made of
elastomers like silicone
or thermoplastic
elastomers such as
Norprene or Tygon
Used Mooney-Rivlin
hyperelastic material
model

Fluid Modeling

Open fluid
boundaries

Fluid-structure interface:

Veryst
Engineering

Incompressible Newtonian
fluid
Laminar Navier-Stokes
equations
Peristaltic pumps
commonly used for nonNewtonian fluids
Moving fluid-mesh follows
solid deformation
FSI interface automatically
handled by COMSOL

Contact Modeling

Source surfaces

Contact Pair 1

Veryst
Engineering

Contact Pair 2

Rollers are contact

source, tube is contact
destination due to
higher relative stiffness
of rollers
No friction, rollers not
allowed to rotate

Contact Lagrange
multipliers solved for as
Lumped Step in
segregated solver

Step 1: Move Rollers in Place

Damped transient analysis to get rollers in correct starting
configuration

Roller displacement

Initial model configuration

Veryst
Engineering

Initial pump configuration

Step 2: Rotate Rollers

Transient analysis with prescribed roller rotation
Wait until transient dies out

Veryst
Engineering

Solution Approaches for FSI Problem

Solve both solid and fluid fields simultaneously
Two-way coupled solution
More accurate (for some pump configurations)
More computational resources (memory and time)

Solve solid field followed by fluid field

Coupling only from solid to fluid
Less accurate
Less computational resources

Veryst
Engineering

Mises Stresses and Fluid Velocity

Solid contours: Mises stress (MPa)

Fluid arrows: Velocity field

Veryst
Engineering

Flow Rate (and Fluctuations)

Significant flow
fluctuations including flow
reversal at point of roller
separation from tube
(vertical roller position)
In practice fluctuations
reduced by roller design

For more details on peristaltic pump modeling visit www.veryst.com/peristalticpump.html

Veryst
Engineering

Benefits of using COMSOL for FSI

Automatic calculation of total fluid forces.

Automatic identification of solid-fluid interface.

Automatic application of correct boundary conditions at the
solid-fluid interface.
Ability to move computational mesh based on deformation of
solid.
Accurate calculation of fluid flow stresses on moving mesh.

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