Immersed particle method for fluid-structure interaction

A method for treating fluid-structure interaction of fracturing structures under impulsive loads is described. The coupling method is simple and does not require any modifications when the structure fails and allows fluid to flow through openings between crack surfaces. Both the fluid and the structure are treated by meshfree methods. For the structure, a Kirchhoff-Love shell theory is adopted and the cracks are treated by introducing either discrete (cracking particle method) or continuous (partition of unity-based method) discontinuities into the approximation. Coupling is realized by a master-slave scheme where the structure is slave to the fluid. The method is aimed at problems with high-pressure and low-velocity fluids, and is illustrated by the simulation of three problems involving fracturing cylindrical shells coupled with fluids. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.