Hi everyone,
Could anyone address whether the COMSOL 5.3a FSI (which uses the Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian, ALE method) can handle contact between solids submerged in a fluid?
I am attempting to model the transport of a submerged, non-spherical solid particle driven by the drag from fluid flowing in a microchannel. I have been having issues with convergence when the solid particle hits the wall of the microchannel. The issues with convergence is likely due to mesh inversion or high distortion of the mesh. I have not been able to resolve the contact issue with both Arbitrary Lagrangian and penalty contact methods (with and without a contact offset). I believe it is due to COMSOL's ALE method with the moving mesh not capable of handling topological changes.
Others seem to be having the same issue, but I have yet to see a successful case of modeling collision of submerged solids. FSI, Solid contact in the fluid domainFSI, No support for FSI and solid contact at same boundary
I would highly appreciate a response regarding this issue.