One of the major problems in fluid-structure interaction using the arbitrar
y Lagrangian Eulerian approach lies in the area of dynamic mesh generation.
For accurate fluid-dynamic computations, meshes must be generated at each
time step. The fluid mesh must be regenerated in the deformed fluid domain
in order to account for the displacements of the elastic body computed by t
he structural dynamics solver. In the elasticity-based computational dynami
c mesh procedure, the fluid mesh is modeled as a pseudo-elastic solid the d
eformation of which is based on the displacement boundary conditions, resul
ting from the solution of the computational structural dynamics problem. Th
is approach has a distinct advantage over other mesh-movement algorithms in
that it is a very general, physically based approach that can be applied t
o both structured and unstructured meshes. The major drawback of the linear
elastostatic solver is that it does not guarantee the absence of severe el
ement distortion. This paper describes a novel mesh-movement procedure for
mesh quality control of 2-D and 3-D dynamic meshes based on solving a pseud
o-nonlinear elastostatic problem. An inexpensive distortion measure for dif
ferent types of elements is introduced and used for controlling the element
shape quality. The mesh-movement procedure is illustrated with several exa
mples (large-displacement and free-boundary problems) that highlight its ad
vantages in terms of performance, mesh quality, and robustness. It is belie
ved that the resulting scheme will result in a more economical simulation o
f the motion of complex geometry, 3-D elastic bodies immersed in temporally
and spatially evolving flows.