Extended computational capabilities for high-fidelity fluid–structure simulations

Current research efforts in aeroelasticity aim at including higher fidelity aerodynamic results into the multi-disciplinary simulation environments. In the present effort, an updated Python-based Fluid–Structure Interaction framework has been included in SU2 code to allow for efficient and fully open-source simulations of detailed aeroelastic phenomena. The method provides a powerful and easily approachable environment. The developed software has been assessed against three test cases of increasing complexity, coming from the aeronautic community. These applications showed how the framework can capture strongly nonlinear aerodynamic effects, such as shock waves, and their interaction with the structural dynamics of the model.