Application of a Multi-Disciplinary Computing Environment (MDICE) for loosely coupled fluid-structural analysis

Abstract

A Multi-Disciplinary Computing Environment (MDICE) has recently been developed which allows several computer codes or 'modules' to communicate over a distributed network of computers at user-defined stages of a simulation. This loosely-coupled approach offers the advantage of utilizing established singledisciplinary codes in a multi-disciplinary framework. The current paper discusses the application of MDICE to couple a computational fluid dynamics module (CFDFASTRAN) with a finite element/modal analysis module (FEMSTRESS). Three aerostructural cases were analyzed with this MDICE configuration: steady flow/modal analysis of an AGARD 445 wing, transient flow/modal analysis of the AGARD 445 wing, and steady flow/FEM analysis over a generic delta wing. In addition, an analysis of flutter on the AGARD 445 wing and a comparison of interfacing techniques was performed using the MDICE environment. The results showed that the environment was versatile enough to easily and accurately switch between different analysis modules (e.g. finite element to modal analysis). The interfacing comparison showed that a conservative and consistent interpolation of forces and deformations between the fluids and structural meshes was a more desirable interfacing technique than the interpolation of structural mode shapes to the fluids mesh.