Numerical Study of Fluid-Structure Interactions in Tube Bundles With Multiphase-POD Reduced-Order Approach

Fluid-Structure Interactions are present in a large number of systems of nuclear power plants and nuclear on-board stoke-holds. Particularly in steam generators, where tube bundles are submitted to cross-flow which can lead to structure vibrations. We know that numerical studies of such a complex mechanism is very costly, that is why we propose the use of reduced-order methods in order to reduce calculation times and to make easier parametric studies for such problems. We use the multiphase-POD approach, initially proposed by Liberge (E. Liberge; POD-Galerkin Reduction Models for Fluid-Structure Interaction Problems, PhD Thesis, Universite de La Rochelle, 2008). This method is an adaptation of the classical POD approach to the case of a moving structure in a flow, considering the whole system (fluid and structure) as a multiphase domain. We are interested in the case of large displacements of a structure moving in a fluid, in order to observe the ability of the multiphase-POD technique to give a satisfying solution reconstruction. We obtain very interesting results for the case of a single circular cylinder in cross-flow (lock-in phenomenon). Then we present the application of the method to a case of confined cylinders in large displacements too. Here again, results are encouraging. Finally, we propose to go further presenting a first step in parametric studies with POD-Galerkin approach. We only consider a flowing-fluid around a fixed structure and the Burgers’ equation. A future work will consist in applications to fluid-structure interactions.