An open-source fluid-structure interaction code for anyone and everyone

Modern computers and algorithms have led to powerful software simulations of complex fluid-structure interaction problems. Yet, many software packages are either proprietary or have a steep learning curve. We present an open-source fluid-structure interaction tool that is implemented in Julia. Julia’s features allow the code to be readable, maintainable, and extendable without sacrificing performance. The software package is designed to provide a high-level and idiomatic interface, rich with tutorials, that is easy for beginners to pick up while providing a powerful toolkit. The package is an implementation of a high-fidelity immersed boundary algorithm, and is capable of accurately simulating flows past a user’s choice of a combination of rigid or deforming bodies undergoing either stationary or moving prescribed kinematics. Functionality exists for performing both nonlinear simulations as well as performing global analysis techniques focusing on laminar flows, however, as a future effort, it will incorporate turbulence models. In all cases, users can easily retrieve key flow data (e.g., velocity, vorticity, pressure) and analyze them using our package’s functionality. We have prioritized extensively documenting the code so advanced users may modify the source to their liking.