Explicit/implicit fluid/structure staggered procedures with a structural predictor and fluid subcycling for 2D inviscid aeroelastic simulations

Field time integrators with second-order-accurate numerical schemes for both the fluid and the structure are considered for unsteady Euler aeroelastic computations. We show that if these schemes are simply coupled and used straightforwardly with subcycling, then accuracy and stability properties may be lost. We present new coupling staggered procedures where momentum conservation is enforced at the interface. This is done by using a structural predictor. Continuity of structural and fluid grid displacements is not satisfied at the fluid/structure interface. However, we show on a two-degree-of-freedom aerofoil that this new type of method has many advantages, e.g. accuracy of conservation at the interface and extended stability. The supersonic flutter of a flat panel is simulated in order to numerically prove that the algorithm gives accurate results with arbitrary subcycling for the fluid in the satisfying limit of 30 time steps per period of coupled oscillation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.