An element for the analysis of transient exterior fluid-structure interaction problems using the FEM (Q1328697)

A finite element-based procedure is presented for the solution directly in the time domain of transient problems involving structures submerged in an infinite acoustic fluid. A central component of the methodology is a novel element that arises from discretization of a high-order absorbing boundary condition introduced in the formulation of the fluid-structure interaction problem in order to render the computational domain finite. The new element is local in both time and space and is completely defined by a pair of symmetric stiffness and damping matrices. The familiar form of the discretized equations of motion for the structure is retained with its symmetry and sparseness intact. Standard temporal integration techniques can then be used for the solution of the equations.