A semi-implicit finite volume scheme for a simplified hydrostatic model for fluid-structure interaction

Simulating fluid-structure interaction problems usually requires a considerable computational effort. In this article, a novel semi-implicit finite volume scheme is developed for the coupled solution of free surface shallow water flow and the movement of one or more floating rigid structures. The model is well-suited for geophysical flows, as it is based on the hydrostatic pressure assumption and the shallow water equations. The coupling is achieved via a nonlinear volume function in the mass conservation equation that depends on the coordinates of the floating structures. Furthermore, the nonlinear volume function allows for the simultaneous existence of wet, dry and pressurized cells in the computational domain. The resulting mildly nonlinear pressure system is solved using a nested Newton method. The accuracy of the volume computation is improved by using a subgrid, and time accuracy is increased via the application of the theta method. Additionally, mass is always conserved to machine precision. At each time step, the volume function is updated in each cell according to the position of the floating objects, whose dynamics is computed by solving a set of ordinary differential equations for their six degrees of freedom. The simulated moving objects may for example represent ships, and the forces considered here are simply gravity and the hydrostatic pressure on the hull. For a set of test cases, the model has been applied and compared with available exact solutions to verify the correctness and accuracy of the proposed algorithm. The model is able to treat fluid-structure interaction in the context of hydrostatic geophysical free surface flows in an efficient and flexible way, and the employed nested Newton method rapidly converges to a solution. The proposed algorithm may be useful for hydraulic engineering, such as for the simulation of ships moving in inland waterways and coastal regions.