CFD/CSD coupling for an isolated rotor using preCICE

Modeling a rotor blade flow field involves computing the blade motion, elastic deformation, and the three-dimensional forces and moments for specific trim conditions. Such a complex multiphysics problem, which includes a strong fluid-structure interaction, should be modeled by coupling separate solvers which are specialized on solving single-physics problems. In this work, we present a modular and extensible TAU-CAMRAD II coupling environment using the preCICE coupling library [1]. In this coupling, the aerodynamic forces and moments were computed with the CFD solver TAU. The blade control angle for the CFD simulation were determined by the CSD solver CAMRAD II. We validated the implementation using a modified model of the HART-II rotor at an advancing ratio of µ=0.3. Besides the potential that this work unlocks for future simulations of an active rotor, it also serves as an example of using preCICE for geometric multi-scale (1D-3D) coupling of closed-source solvers for periodic phenomena.