Fluid–Structure Interaction Study and Flowrate Prediction Past a Flexible Membrane Using Immersed Boundary Method and Artificial Neural Network Techniques

Abstract

Many microfluidics-based applications involve fluid–structure interaction (FSI) of flexible membranes. Thin flexible membranes are now being widely used for mixing enhancement, particle segregation, flowrate control, drug delivery, etc. The FSI simulations related to these applications are challenging to numerically implement. In this direction, techniques like immersed boundary method (IBM) have been successful. In this study, two-dimensional numerical simulation of flexible membrane fixed at two end points in a rectangular channel subjected to uniform fluid flow is carried out at low Reynolds number using a finite volume based IBM. A staggered Cartesian grid system is used and SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve the governing continuity and Navier–Stokes equations. The developed model is validated using the previous research work and numerical simulations are carried out for different parametric test cases. Different membrane mode shapes are observed due to the complex interplay between the hydrodynamics and structural elastic forces. Since the membrane undergoes deformation with respect to inlet fluid conditions, a variation in flowrate past the flexible structure is confirmed. It is found that, by changing the membrane length, bending rigidity, and its initial position in the channel, flowrate can be controlled. Also, for membranes that are placed at the channel midplane undergoing self-excited oscillations, there exists a critical dimensionless membrane length condition L ≥ 1.0 that governs this behavior. Finally, an artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed that successfully predicts flowrate in the channel for different membrane parameters.

Numerical simulation and prediction model development of multiple flexible filaments in viscous shear flow using immersed boundary method and artificial neural network techniques

“…where F n s is the elastic force density term and F n b is the bending force term. An illustration of the resultant stretching and bending forces acting on the filament linkages is provided in our previous work (Kanchan and Maniyeri 2019a, 2019b, 2020a. The elastic and bending forces provided in equation ( 6) are obtained from elastic energy terms as shown in equations ( 7) and ( 8).…”

Lateral Migration of Variously Shaped Particles: A Computational Study

“…It is a monolithic and non-conforming mesh-type numerical method. This method was utilized for several FSI problems [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Shin et al [18] developed another IBM scheme with a feedback forcing scheme.…”

Lateral migration of cylindrical particle in a constricted microchannel—A numerical study

“…This includes parachute aerodynamics, [20,21] jellyfish locomotion, [22][23][24] propulsion of bacterial flagellum, [25] valveless pump, [26] flapping of flexible ring, [27] elastic rod rotation, [28] bundling of bacterial flagella, [29] droplet dynamics, [30] leaflet dynamics in fluid flow, [31] and flexible filament dynamics. [32][33][34][35] Shin et al put forward a new version of IBM, [36] which has a combination of the virtual boundary method, [37] and Peskin's regularized delta function. This method was further utilized for flexible filament simulation [38] and to study the elastic capsule dynamics in confined flow.…”