An unstructured solver for simulations of deformable particles in flows at arbitrary Reynolds numbers

Simon Mendez (1) , Etienne Gibaud (1) , Franck Nicoud (1)

1 I3M - Institut de Mathématiques et de Modélisation de Montpellier

As a step in the development of a numerical procedure able to perform parallel computations of the dynamics of capsules/cells in non-physiological configurations, a numerical method is developed and its validation is described. The fluid-structure interaction problem is solved using an immersed boundary method, adapted to an unstructured finite-volume flow solver thanks to the reproducing kernel particle method. A specific treatment to ensure volume conservation of the fluid enclosed in the immersed structure is also detailed. The present paper focuses on quantitative validation of the method in 2-D, against existing reference 2-D results. Excellent agreement is obtained for configurations of capsules and vesicles evolving with or without mean flow. Applications of the method to non-zero Reynolds number cases, including non-trivial geometry, is shown. This unstructured immersed boundary method proves robust to tackle the dynamics of deformable particles in complex flows.

Mots clés: Capsule/cell dynamics; Unstructured solver; immersed boundary method; validation

Domaines: Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Modélisation et simulation

Simon Mendez, Etienne Gibaud, Franck Nicoud. An unstructured solver for simulations of deformable particles in flows at arbitrary Reynolds numbers. Journal of Computational Physics, 2014, 256 (1), pp.465-483. ⟨10.1016/j.jcp.2013.08.061⟩. ⟨hal-00871557⟩