On the use of improved radial basis functions methods in fluid-structure interaction simulationsOn the use of improved radial basis functions methods in fluid-structure interaction simulations Πλήρης Δημοσίευση σε Συνέδριο Conference Full Paper 2018-11-012016enThe development of an efficient partitioned FSI coupling scheme is reported in this paper, aimed to facilitate interaction between an open-source CSD software package and an in-house academic CFD code. The coupling procedure is based on Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) interpolation for both information transfer and mesh deformation, entailing no dependence on connectivities, and hence making it applicable to different type or even intersecting grids. However, the method calls for increased computational resources in its initial formulation; to alleviate this deficiency, appropriate acceleration techniques have been incorporated, namely the Partition of Unity (PoU) approach and a surface-point reduction scheme. The PoU approach was adopted in case of data transfer, localizing the interpolation process and therefore reducing the size of the coupling matrix. An alternative approach was applied to improve the efficiency of the mesh deformation procedure, based on the agglomeration of the flow/structure interface nodes used for the RBFs interpolation method. For the demonstration of the proposed scheme a static aeroelastic simulation of a real bridge model, during its construction phase, was performed. The extracted results exhibit its potential to encounter effectively such complicated test cases, in a computationally efficient way.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ASME 2016 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and ExpositionAdvances in Aerospace Technology Strofylas Giorgos Στροφυλας Γιωργος Mazanakis Georgios Μαζανακης Γεωργιος Sarakinos Sotirios Σαρακηνος Σωτηριος Lygidakis Georgios Λυγιδακης Γεωργιος Nikolos Ioannis Νικολος Ιωαννης American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Agglomeration Fluid-structure interaction Grid adaptivity Node-centered finite-volume method Partitioned coupling Radial basis functions Reduced surface point selection