Computational analysis of flow-driven string dynamics in turbomachinery

We focus on computational analysis of flow-driven string dynamics. The objective is to understand how the strings carried by a fluid interact with the solid surfaces present and get stuck on or around those surfaces. Our target application is turbomachinery, such as understanding how strings get stuck on or around the blades of a fan. The components of the method we developed for this purpose are the Space–Time Variational Multiscale (ST-VMS) and ST Slip Interface (ST-SI) methods for the fluid dynamics, and a one-way-dependence model and the Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) for the string dynamics. The ST-VMS method is the core computational technology and it also has the features of a turbulence model. The ST-SI method allows in a consistent fashion slip at the interface between the mesh covering a spinning solid surface and the mesh covering the rest of the domain, and with this, we maintain high-resolution representation of the boundary layers near spinning solid surfaces such as fan blades. With the one-way-dependence model, we compute the influence of the flow on the string dynamics, while avoiding the formidable task of computing the influence of the string on the flow, which we expect to be small. The IGA for the string dynamics gives us not only a higher-order method and smoothness in the structure shape, but also smoothness in the fluid dynamics forces calculated on the string. To demonstrate how the method can be used in computational analysis of flow-driven string dynamics, we present the pilot computations we carried out, for a duct with cylindrical obstacles and for a ventilating fan.