Radial basis function based mesh deformation applied to simulation of flow around flapping wings
In this paper a mesh deformation technique based on radial basis function interpolation (introduced by the authors in [6]) is applied to flapping wings. The main difficulty of the simulation of flows around flapping wings is to maintain high mesh quality when the wing exhibits large translations and rotations. Standard mesh deformation techniques - based on solving the Laplace and solid body rotation stress equations - become inefficient or break down under these conditions. Using radial basis function interpolation, mesh quality can be preserved even for large translations and rotations. First, the performance of several radial basis functions is compared to that of standard meshmotion methods in 2D for a beam undergoing rotations and translations typical for flapping. After that, the best performing radial basis function - the thin plate spline - is applied to 3D flow simulation around a flapping wing as well as to a deforming wing. Efficiency of the mesh motion technique is improved using coarsening and smoothing of the radial basis function. The resulting method is efficient and provides superior mesh quality over standard Laplace based or solid body rotation stress mesh motion methods for flapping and deforming wings. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
radial basis functions mesh deformation flapping wings openfoam (r)