CAREER: Open-source GPU-accelerated computational infrastructure for coastal fluid-structure interaction in extreme hydrodynamic conditions

About This Grant

The availability of widely accessible software and procedures for predicting the intricate response of coastal structures to climate-induced extreme hydrodynamic events is paramount for supporting the development of climate-resilient coastal communities. However, the current scientific toolbox for evaluating the response of coastal structural systems to extreme hydrodynamic loads consists of empirical models lacking a solid theoretical foundation, outdated design codes, and oversimplified numerical frameworks that misbehave in scenarios beyond their limited scope. This project aims to address this deficiency by pioneering the development of novel high-fidelity, physics-based numerical methodologies, and open-source, high-performance computational software infrastructure for fluid-structure interaction simulation between extreme hydrodynamic events and coastal structures. This research enables the advancement of knowledge in the field of coastal climate resilience. It aligns with NSF's commitment to promoting the progress of science and facilitating breakthroughs in climate change and resilience. The wide dissemination of the developed computational tools holds the potential to deliver societal and economic benefits by enabling the design of more climate-resilient coastal infrastructure. Moreover, it has the potential to impact multiple scientific fields that involve fluid-structure interaction. Integrated into this research are several education and outreach activities that involve training high-school teachers in climate resilience issues, engaging diverse student cohorts in project participation, and enhancing the curriculum. These activities promote climate change awareness, cultivate interdisciplinary and computational thinking, and foster diversity and inclusion. The technical objective of this project is the development of high-fidelity, physics-based computational tools for coastal fluid-structure interaction under extreme hydrodynamic events. These tools advance mathematical methods, algorithms, and computational software on coastal climate resilience. Specifically, the project introduces the following cyberinfrastructure innovations. First, it employs Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics to simulate violent free-surface flows and extreme structural deformations, including fragmentation. This approach departs from previous numerical methods on coastal fluid-structure interaction that often relied on mesh-based techniques or rigid body assumptions to represent solid structures. Furthermore, it utilizes a novel pressure projection method that facilitates an efficient and accurate two-way coupling of the fluid and structural domains, leading to high predictive accuracy. The research also delves into advanced numerical approaches for modeling structural damage and fracture. These include phase-field, peridynamics, and microplane models, that result in advanced numerical capabilities for simulating structural failure. In addition to these computational developments, the project uses water flume facilities to provide experimental validation for the developed computational tools. Lastly, the culmination of these computational and mathematical innovations, along with a sophisticated pre-processing module tailored to civil structures, are combined to develop a GPU-accelerated software platform made available to the research community through open-source cloud-based repositories. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.