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Abstract

Multiphase fluid-structure interaction (FSI), defined as the interaction of multiple fluid phases with several structural components, is a fundamental physical phenomenon observed in applications ranging from natural processes to engineering systems. One particularly important and timely example is the interaction between ships and sea ice in the Arctic region. As the polar ice caps continue to melt due to climate change, the Arctic is becoming increasingly navigable, spurring interest in marine transportation, resource extraction, and scientific exploration in the region. Understanding this complex system of ship-ice interaction involves modeling the multiphase coupling between ship, ice, water, and air and capturing multiscale effects such as drifting and rotation of ice floes, free-surface phenomena, and contact dynamics. The development of a generalized FSI-contact framework to capture such dynamic interactions is the focus of the present dissertation. In the current work, we employ a fully Eulerian approach to model the evolution and interaction of the different phases. We use the phase-field model to capture the interfaces between the different physical systems, which naturally allow for large displacements and/or deformations of the solid structures. The strains and stresses in the solid bodies are modeled by evolving the left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor. To address the challenges associated with interface smearing in convection dominated regimes, an interface-preserving adaptivity technique is proposed to minimize the losses in interface accuracy while simultaneously reducing the computational cost. Two distinct contact models are developed to simulate the different interactions inherent in the coupled ship-ice dynamics. To model ice-ice contact, we propose a novel monofield interface advancing scheme for collision detection that is capable of efficiently modeling contact between multiple submerged solids with identical physical properties. To model ship-ice contact, we develop a 3D sliding contact formulation based on the overlap of the diffuse interfaces of the respective colliding solids. We verify the solver after each new addition with relevant test cases and benchmark problems. We also demonstrate the efficacy and robustness of the framework by analyzing quantities of interest in each case. Finally, we present a simplified ship-ice interaction problem by passing a representative container ship through floating ice floes.