Abstract
A computational method has been developed for interaction of a thin, flexible membrane and wind flow around it. Restricing the computational domain as the 2D vertical plane, the membrane is discretized by truss elements and a geometrically nonlinear dynamic analysis method is applied to its motion. The ALE finite element method is employed for the flow analysis. A simple staggered algorithm, to solve the membrane and the flow alternatively, was unstable unless the density of the membrane is sufficiently large. An improved algorithm, where the excessive acceleration of the membrane due to the excessive fluid force is reduced by introducing inner iterations during each time integration step, was found effective to simulate a wind-induced flutter of the membrane stably.
