A Nodal Immersed Finite Element-Finite Difference Method

The immersed finite element-finite difference (IFED) method is a computational approach to modeling interactions between a fluid and an immersed structure. This method uses a finite element (FE) method to approximate the stresses and forces on a structural mesh and a finite difference (FD) method to approximate the momentum of the entire fluid-structure system on a Cartesian grid. The fundamental approach used by this method follows the immersed boundary framework for modeling fluid-structure interaction (FSI), in which a force spreading operator prolongs structural forces to a Cartesian grid, and a velocity interpolation operator restricts a velocity field defined on that grid back onto the structural mesh. Force spreading and velocity interpolation both require projecting data onto the finite element space. Consequently, evaluating either coupling operator requires solving a matrix equation at every time step. Mass lumping, in which the projection matrices are replaced by diagonal approximations, has the potential to accelerate this method considerably. Constructing the coupling operators also requires determining the locations on the structure mesh where the forces and velocities are sampled. Here we show that sampling the forces and velocities at the nodes of the structural mesh is equivalent to using lumped mass matrices in the coupling operators. A key theoretical result of our analysis is that if both of these approaches are used together, the IFED method permits the use of lumped mass matrices derived from nodal quadrature rules for any standard interpolatory element. This is different from standard FE methods, which require specialized treatments to accommodate mass lumping with higher-order shape functions. Our theoretical results are confirmed by numerical benchmarks, including standard solid mechanics tests and examination of a dynamic model of a bioprosthetic heart valve.