Obtaining acceleration values for underwater reticulated structure

Using preCICE
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1

Hello everyone! We are doing a low TRL project in designing and building the artificial reefs for marine ecosystem restoration. To do make a good reef it is important to make it stable in the flow and under the wave loads. I have already cracked the nut by replicating the flow experiment in a tank with our reef structure and obtained some fair results using OpenFOAM. The next step is to make a strongly coupled FSI model where it is possible to obtain accelerations of the structure to conduct dynamical analysis at least in the turbulent flow. However the edge of the dreams would be to obtain such accelerations from surface wave acting.

We are aware of commercial software existing, which can do a similar job, however, as we are low TRL project we explore new libraries and possibilities available in the science community, such as preCICE. I stopped by the foam-extended-4.0 and the 4.1, however the problem is that the solid solvers may not provide the truthful acceleration due to limitations of implemented solvers, only displacement.

Therefore, before diving in this world, where there are new environments, solvers and softwares, which I have never seen, I would like to ask if it is possible to do what is stated above, namely: is it possible to simulate a free surface liquid with surface wave transient actions, which affect the fully submersible structure in a strong coupled FSI? If so, is it possible to obtain the truthful accelerations, from which it is possible to derive modal identification of the structure?

Thank you for attention, kindly looking for your advices!

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Hi @dmaslov

My first guess would be “yes” if you do the free surface in OpenFOAM and the FSI with preCICE, but to give you a good answer, it would be necessary to understand your case in more detail. Could you sketch your setup (where which physics, where which coupling, …)?

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Hello @uekerman

Thanks for the attention to my problem! The raw sketch is attached. If I can clarify somehow more please let me know! formulation|651x500

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Seems like a doable case. The more complicated part, free surface and wave generation, you need to do in OpenFOAM (you say you have already done that with OpenFOAM? Which OpenFOAM solver did you use?) and then use preCICE to couple to any structure solver. I suggest to start from the OpenFOAM-CCX tutorials, e.g. the perpendicular flap, and see if you then can exchange the OpenFOAM solver of the tutorial (pimpleFoam) with your free surface OpenFOAM solver.

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Thank you @uekerman , I will do my best to test these approaches! In case of success/fail will report here. Have a good day!