A moving frame of reference algorithm for fluid/structure interaction of rotating and translating bodies

A mathematical and numerical formulation is derived for fluid/structure interaction problems involving arbitrary geometries relevant to the simulation of bridge deck instabilities due to cross winds. A translating and rotating moving frame of reference is attached to the body to utilize an efficient fixed mesh spectral/hp element solver. The formulation is validated against experiments with flow simulations of circular cylinders at Reynolds numbers of 100-400 undergoing free and forced motion in the transverse and in-line directions. The well-documented phenomena of vortex lock-in is captured. The formulation is then applied a rectangular body at Re=250 under forced and free motion the latter of which demonstrates torsional galloping. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.