Fluid-structure coupling within a monolithic model involving free surface flows

This contribution presents a numerical method for the analysis of fluid-structure interaction problems with free surface flows. In order to achieve high convergence of the coupled solution a consistent space-time finite element discretization for both continua and a strong coupling algorithm is applied to the highly non-linear problem. The formulation also enables the simulation of two-fluid flows. The level set method is applied for capturing complex free surfaces. In order to take discontinuities into account modified ansatz functions are used for finite elements cut by the interface. Two-dimensional examples show the applicability of the developed model. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.