Print Email Facebook Twitter A robust computational framework for simulating the dynamics of large assemblies of highly-flexible fibers immersed in viscous flow Title A robust computational framework for simulating the dynamics of large assemblies of highly-flexible fibers immersed in viscous flow Author Koshakji, Anwar (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Chomette, Grégoire (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Turner, Jeffrey (US Army DEVCOM Armaments Center) Jablonski, Jonathan (US Army DEVCOM Armaments Center) Haynes, Aisha (US Army DEVCOM Armaments Center) Carlucci, Donald (US Army DEVCOM Armaments Center) Giovanardi, Bianca (TU Delft Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Radovitzky, Raúl A. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Date 2023 Abstract The dynamic response of flexible filaments immersed in viscous fluids is important in cell mechanics, as well as other biological and industrial processes. In this paper, we propose a parallel computational framework to simulate the fluid-structure interactions in large assemblies of highly-flexible filaments immersed in a viscous fluid. We model the deformation of each filament in 3D with a C1 geometrically-exact large-deformation finite-element beam formulation and we describe the hydrodynamic interactions by a boundary element discretization of the Stokeslet model. We incorporate a contact algorithm that prevents fiber interpenetration and avoids previously reported numerical instabilities in the flow, thus providing the ability to describe the complex evolution of large clouds of fibers over long time spans. In order to support the required long-term integration, we use implicit integration of the solid-fluid-contact coupling. We address the challenges associated with the solution of the large and dense linear system for the hydrodynamic interactions by taking advantage of the massive parallelization offered by Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), which we test up to 1000 fibers and 45000 degrees of freedom. We validate the framework against the well-established response of the sedimentation of a single fiber under gravity in the low to moderate flexibility range. We then reproduce previous results and provide additional insights in the large to extreme flexibility range. Finally, we apply the framework to the analysis of the sedimentation of large clouds of filaments under gravity, as a function of fiber flexibility. Owing to the long time spans afforded by our computational framework, our simulations reproduce the breakup response observed experimentally in the lower flexibility range and provide new insights into the breakup of the initial clouds in the higher flexibility range. Subject Beam contactBoundary element methodFlexible filaments in Stokes flowFluid-structure interactionGraphic processing units (GPU)Large-deformation beam elements To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c1f58038-1caf-406f-b953-8b829e7a920f DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2022.111774 Embargo date 2023-05-29 ISSN 0021-9991 Source Journal of Computational Physics, 474 Bibliographical note Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 Anwar Koshakji, Grégoire Chomette, Jeffrey Turner, Jonathan Jablonski, Aisha Haynes, Donald Carlucci, Bianca Giovanardi, Raúl A. Radovitzky Files PDF 1_s2.0_S0021999122008373_main.pdf 1.66 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:c1f58038-1caf-406f-b953-8b829e7a920f/datastream/OBJ/view