This paper presents techniques and algorithms developed for numerical model
ing of fluid-structure interactions (FSIs) in nonlinear fast transient dyna
mics and arbitrarily complex 3D geometrical configurations. The models are
well suited for impulsive loading and assume compressible, inviscid fluid b
ehavior, Both finite element (FE) and finite volume (FV) discretizations of
the fluid domain are considered and the peculiarities of each with respect
to the interaction process are highlighted. The methods are of interest in
many industrial applications, including gas explosions in hydroelectric po
wer plants, transformers. pipelines, buildings, reactors, offshore and subm
arine structures, etc., of which some examples of relatively large size are
given in the paper. The proposed algorithms deal with arbitrary geometric
model complexity in a fully automatic manner, even in the presence of thin
box-like shell structures. Therefore, they dramatically reduce the amount o
f user input data required with respect to other approaches, so that realis
tic industrial applications not only become feasible, but also can be tackl
ed in a robust and efficient manner. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig
hts reserved.