Numerical simulation of fluid–structure–acoustic interaction motivated by healthy human phonation

This paper presents the mathematical model for fluid–structure–acoustic interaction (FSAI) problems with a particular focus on numerical simulations of healthy human phonation. The mathematical model consists of elastic body deformation, fluid flow, acoustics and their coupling conditions. A special attention is paid to challenges posed by the vocal folds contact, which is addressed in the model by the inlet penalization boundary conditions and an introduction of fictitious porous media.

The numerical model is based on the stabilized finite element method, implemented in an in-house solver. Numerical results are presented for the considered symmetric vocal fold vibrations, for which particularly the influence of penalization parameter and gap threshold is analyzed. Finally, the aeroacoustic simulations in the vocal tract model representing the vowel [u:] are performed with the help of the Lighthill analogy and the aeroacoustic wave equation approach.