A variational approach to fluid-structure interactions

We introduce a two time-scale scheme which allows to extend the method of min-
imizing movements to hyperbolic problems. This method is used to show the existence of
weak solutions to a fluid-structure interaction problem between a nonlinear, visco-elastic, n-
dimensional bulk solid governed by a hyperbolic evolution and an incompressible fluid governed
by the (n-dimensional) Navier-Stokes equations for n ≥ 2.