A staggered procedure for fluid–object interaction with free surfaces, large rotations and driven by adaptive time stepping

The coupling between a rigid body under large rotations and incompressible fluids is investigated within the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian framework. We use here a staggered type of coupling with a predictor/corrector approach for the forces applied to the rigid body. Adaptive time stepping based on feedback control theory imposing a CFL condition on the mesh is investigated. The coupling scheme is first tested on a case illustrating vortex-induced vibrations around a rotating plate. We show the advantages of using the residual-based variational multiscale method for the fluid in the present context. Also, the time-step control and the role of the parameters introduced for the predictor/corrector approach are illustrated using the same test case. A reduced model FPSO ship is then studied, comparing its pitch decay with experimental results. A complex wave–rigid body interaction calculation is finally presented. Results demonstrated the robustness of the predictor/corrector staggered approach with adaptive time-step control for simulating complex interactions of a rigid body under large rotations and free-surface flows.