Fluid-Structure Interaction

Tightly coupled FSI, the intelligent way

Developed specifically to work seamlessly with CFD++® and CSM++®, MetaFSI® is Metacomp’s suite of tools that enable two-way tightly-coupled Fluid-Thermal-Structural Interaction (FTSI) simulations.

OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW

What is MetaFSI®?

FSI, the intelligent way

MetaFSI is a suite of tools that provides the easiest way to integrate a tightly coupled fluid-thermal-structure interaction with CFD++® and CSM++®. MetaFSI® primarily handles transfer of fluid loads from CFD mesh boundaries and applies them on a topologically dissimilar structural mesh while preserving total load. MetaFSI® is also responsible for morphing the CFD++® mesh based on the received CSM++® solution, using a robust mesh morphing algorithm that has been developed and evolved using real-world test cases.

Easy-to-use, easy-to-learn

Experience a different level of ease-of-use and productivity with the Advanced User Interface that is shared with CSM++®. The MetaFSI® interface is automatically presented from within the same CSM++® Advanced User Interface when an FSI analysis option is chosen during setup. And since MetaFSI® is also based upon our ICMP (Integral Computational Multi-Physics) framework underpinning both CSM++® and CFD++®, it offers a tightly coupled FSI setup process with an easy and consistent user experience across the entire FSI simulation procedure.

FEATURES

MetaFSI® performs these two key functions to enable tight-coupling between CFD++® and CSM++®

Load & Displacement Transfer

Gathers loads from CFD++® boundaries
- Surface pressures and wall shears
- Heat fluxes and surface temperatures
Applies to chosen CSM++® boundaries
- Mechanical loads, applied as forces and moments
- Thermal loads, applied as heat fluxes, convective and radiative loads
Handles the transfer in a way that preservers total load and center of pressure
Transfers computed CSM++® solution back to CFD++® boundaries using nearest-neighbor interpolation

Mesh Morphing

Morphs CFD++® mesh based on computed CSM++® solution
- Retains same mesh topology as original mesh
- Morphs either the entire mesh or limits to a user-defined region
Propagates transferred deformations at boundaries into the volume
- Computes a 3-D interpolating function using radial-basis-functions
- Calculates updated nodal locations using interpolant
- Uses multi-process parallelism to speed up the morphing process
Provides users fine-grain control over the morphing procedure

MetaFSI® contains a plethora of features that make it possible to tailor the coupling algorithm to your needs

Implicit and explicit coupling strategies

Two-way and one-way coupling

Normal modes based coupling

Coupling between 3-D CFD boundaries and 1D/2D CSM boundaries

Separate thermal and structural models for FTSI

MPI-based communication between MetaFSI®, CFD++® and CSM++®

Control point coarsening and augmentation

Displacement relaxation

Morphing tests before job submission

… and several other advanced features! See the MetaFSI® Product Overview for additional details

See MetaFSI in action

APPLICATIONS

Turek-Hron FSI2 Benchmark – Cylinder with flag

Time history of lift and drag on cylinder + flag assembly

Static FSI of the NASA Common Research Model

Flutter analysis of the highly flexible “Pazy” wing

Nonlinear static equilibrium state, about which a linear flutter analysis is performed using deformed normal modes

Predicted stability boundary at a range of flutter speeds

Flutter analysis of the Pazy wing (3rd AIAA Aeroelasticity Prediction Workshop)

Time history of tip twist as the wing goes unstable

Fluid-thermal-Structural interaction of a missile configuration

CFD++® analysis of a missile at Mach 5 (top), with the corresponding CSM++® structural (middle, coarser mesh) and thermal (bottom, finer mesh) models