Three-dimensional numerical simulation of vortex-induced vibration of an elastically mounted rigid circular cylinder in steady current

Vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of an elastically mounted rigid circular cylinder in steady current is investigated by solving the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations. The cylinder is allowed to vibrate only in the cross-flow direction. The aim of this study is to investigate the variation of the vortex shedding flow in the axial direction of the cylinder and to study the transition of the flow from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) for VIV of a cylinder. Simulations are carried out for a constant mass ratio of 2, the Reynolds numbers ranging from 150 to 1000 and the reduced velocities ranging from 2 to 12. The three-dimensionality of the flow is found to be the strongest in the upper branch of the VIV response and weakest in the initial branch. The 2S and 2P vortex shedding modes are found to coexist along the cylinder span in the upper branch, leading to strong variations of the lift coefficient in the axial direction of the cylinder. The difference between the flow transition from 2D to 3D in the VIV lock-in regime and that in the wake of a stationary cylinder is identified. The transition mode B found in the wake of a stationary cylinder is also found in the wake of a vibrating cylinder. The critical Reynolds number for flow transition from 2D to 3D of a cylinder undergoing cross-flow VIV at a reduced velocity of 6 is found to be greater than that for a stationary cylinder. For a constant reduced velocity of 6, the wake flow changes from 2D to 3D as the Reynolds number is increased from 250 to 300. Some 2D numerical simulations are performed and it is found that the 2D Navier–Stokes (NS) equations are not able to predict the VIV in the turbulent flow regime, while the 2D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations improve the results.     

Numerical simulation of three-dimensional instability of flow past a short cylinder

The plane-parallel flow past an infinitely long circular cylinder becomes three-dimensional starting with Reynolds numbers Re ≈ 190. The corresponding instability mode is called mode A. When Re ≈ 260, vortex structures with a smaller cross scale are formed in the wake as a result of a secondary three-dimensional instability (mode B). The transition to three-dimensionality for a short cylinder bounded by planes is considered. The length of the cylinder is chosen to eliminate the unstable perturbations of mode A. Two instability modes similar to modes A and B modified under the effect of the bounding lateral planes are found. The problems of three-dimensional flow are numerically solved using the Navier-Stokes equations.     

Combined action of transverse oscillations and uniform cross-flow on vortex formation and pattern of a circular cylinder

This paper attempts to study the roles of lateral cylinder oscillations and a uniform cross-flow in the vortex formation and wake modes of an oscillating circular cylinder. A circular cylinder is given lateral oscillations of varying amplitudes (between 0.28 and 1.42 cylinder-diameters) in a slow uniform flow stream (Reynolds number=284) to produce the 2S, 2P and P+S wake modes. Detailed flow information is obtained with time-resolved particle-image velocimetry and the phase-locked averaging techniques. In the 2S and 2P mode, the flow speeds relative to the cylinder movement are less than the uniform flow velocity and it is found that initial formation of a vortex is caused by shear-layer separation of the uniform flow on the cylinder. Subsequent development of the shear-layer vortices is affected by the lateral cylinder movement. At small cylinder oscillation amplitudes, vortices are shed in synchronization with the cylinder movement, resulting in the 2S mode. The 2P mode occurs at larger cylinder oscillation amplitudes at which each shear-layer vortex is found to undergo intense stretching and eventual bifurcation into two separate vortices. The P+S mode occurs when the cylinder moving speeds are, for most of the time, higher than the speed of the uniform flow. These situations are found at fast and large-amplitude cylinder oscillations in which the flow relative to the cylinder movement takes over the uniform flow in governing the initial vortex formation. The formation stages of vortices from the cylinder are found to bear close resemblance to those of a vortex street pattern of a cylinder oscillating in an otherwise quiescent fluid at Keulegan–Carpenter numbers around 16. Vortices in the inclined vortex street pattern so formed are then convected downstream by the uniform flow as the vortex pairs in the 2P mode.     

单窄条控制件对横向振荡柱体尾流 2P模式 旋涡脱落的改变

横向强迫振荡柱体尾流控制是柱体涡激振动控制的基础,在海洋、土木等工程中具有重要意义. 横向强迫振荡柱体尾流中存在一种锁频旋涡脱落模式,即在一个振荡周期内柱体上、下侧各脱落旋转方向相反的一对涡,称为2P模式. 本文将相对宽度b/D=0.32的窄条控制件置于横向强迫振荡柱体下游,对振幅比A/D=1.25, 无量纲振频f_e D/V_∞=0.22,雷诺数Re=1 200的2P模式旋涡脱落进行干扰,并通过改变控制件位置,研究旋涡的变化规律. 采用二维大涡模拟和实验验证方法进行研究,在控制件位置范围0.8≤X/D≤3.2, 0.4≤Y/D≤3.2内,得到了2P, 2S, P+S和另外6种新发现的旋涡脱落模式,并对各模式旋涡的形成过程作了详细描述. 在控制件位置平面上给出了各旋涡模式的存在区域,画出了旋涡脱落强度的等值线图,并发现在一个相当大的区域内,旋涡脱落强 度可减小一半以上,尾流变窄. 发现柱体大幅振荡引起的横向剪切流在旋涡生成中起关键作用. 探讨了控制件对横向剪切流的影响,分析了控制件在每种旋涡模式形成中的作用机制.      

Intrinsic relationship of vorticity between modes A and B in the wake of a bluff body

The intrinsic physical relationship of vorticity between modes A and B in the three-dimensional wake transition is investigated.Direct numerical simulations for the flow past a square-section cylinder are carried out at Reynolds numbers of 180 and 250,associated with modes A and B,respectively.Based on the analysis of spacial distributions of vorticity in the near wake,characteristics of the vertical vorticity in modes A and B are identified.Moreover,the relationship of three vorticity components with specific signs is summarized into two sign laws,as intrinsic physical relationships between two instability modes.By the theory of vortex-induced vortex,such two sign laws confirm that there are two and only two kinds of vortex-shedding patterns in the near wake,just corresponding to modes A and B.In brief,along the free stream direction,mode A can be described by the parallel shedding vertical vortices with the same sign,while mode B is described by the parallel shedding streamwise vortices with the same sign.Finally,it is found out that the|-type vortex is a basic kind of vortex structure in both modes A and B.     

Vortex-induced vibrations of a diamond cross-section: Sensitivity to corner sharpness

This paper studies the fluid–structure interaction of an elastically mounted square cross-section cylinder immersed in a free stream. The cross-section is mounted such that its sides are at 45° to the free stream direction, in a “diamond” configuration, and its motion is constrained to the transverse direction relative to the flow direction. Apart from the cross-section, this setup is the same as the majority of single-degree-of-freedom vortex-induced vibration studies of cylinders. Two-dimensional direct numerical simulations of this system have been performed. The Reynolds number based on the point-to-point distance of the cross-section has been fixed at Re=200). Simulations at this Reynolds number allow a direct comparison with previous results from circular cylinders, and therefore focus directly on the impact of the geometry.The sensitivity of the flow, and therefore the motion of the cylinder, to geometrical effects is considered. This is done by rounding the two side corners (those pointing across the flow) at a given radius. For well-rounded corners, the flow behaviour resembles that of a circular cylinder undergoing vortex-induced vibration. However, below a critical radius, the dynamics are considerably altered. Highly disordered and irregular wakes and body motions are observed, as well as a synchronized, periodic P+S wake mode (Williamson and Roshko, 1988), which consists of a pair of vortices on one side, and a single vortex on the other side, shed per oscillation cycle, which results in a non-zero mean lift force. A period-doubled version of this P+S wake is also presented. The spatial structure, and the spatio-temporal symmetries of each of these modes is reported. The results show that even though the spatio-temporal symmetry of the flow is unaffected by the geometry when the body is rigidly mounted (the flow always saturating to a Kármán vortex street) geometric features such as sharp corners can induce a number of spontaneous symmetry breaking bifurcations when the body is elastically mounted. Which of these various modes is observed is shown to be a function of both the corner radius and the spring stiffness, expressed through the reduced velocity.     

A circular cylinder undergoing large-amplitude transverse oscillations in a slow uniform cross flow

This study explores the vortex patterns formed by a circular cylinder undergoing lateral cylinder oscillations with large amplitudes and in the presence of a slow uniform cross flow. It is an extension of our previous study (Lam et al., 2010b) in which formation of the 2S, 2P and P+S vortex modes were discussed from the viewpoint of interaction of a uniform cross-flow with the vortex street patterns of a cylinder oscillating in an otherwise quiescent fluid at Keulegan–Carpenter numbers up to KC=8.9. The present paper reports three additional experimental sets in which the amplitudes of cylinder oscillations have even larger values, at A/D>2.5, and lie beyond the vortex mode map usually quoted from Williamson and Roshko (1988). It is found that the slow uniform cross-flow at λ/D≈3 and Reynolds number based on cross-flow velocity at 232 acts to convect the corresponding vortex patterns in the absence of cross-flow downstream across the line of cylinder oscillation. Vortex–vortex interaction and vortex–cylinder interaction are observed to affect the subsequent development of vortices. The P+S vortex mode is found to occur up to KC=16. At KC between 16 and 24, a new vortex mode is observed in which only one vortex pair can be convected downstream every cylinder oscillation cycle. Another new vortex mode with two vortex pairs and two stationary vortices are found at KC>24.     

Flow past a rotating cylinder translating at different gap heights along a wall

The flow past a rotating circular cylinder translating parallel to a wall at different heights is investigated for Reynolds numbers up to 400 for three discrete rotation rates. In particular, the various wake transitions that occur as a function of gap height are quantified for the three cases examined: non-rotation, and forward and reverse rotations. At low gap heights, only a single steady three-dimensional mode is found to become unstable on the steady base flow. As the gap height is increased, several new three-dimensional modes are observed, of which one attains large amplitudes in the near wake and another preferentially in the far wake. At still larger gap heights, the transition sequence resembles that observed in a rotating cylinder wake, for which the wake first undergoes transition to a periodic state, prior to the onset of three-dimensional flow. Parameter space maps showing the neutral stability curves and regions of instability for each mode are presented for each rotation rate, together with a discussion of the spatio-temporal characteristics and spatial distributions of the new modes. Finally, the force coefficients for the steady and periodic two-dimensional base flows are presented.     

Numerical Simulation of the Flow Around an Infinitely Long Circular Cylinder in the Transition Regime

The development of three-dimensional structures and the succeeding transition to turbulence occurs in the wake of a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers 190≤Re≤330. This regime is investigated numerically by means of a spectral element method. Earlier numerical works aimed mainly at reproducing characteristic wake patterns observed in experiments. Small sizes of computational domains and short integration times were chosen to save computational resources. Consequently, the quantitative results show a considerable scatter. Within this work, a step by step approach to highly accurate direct numerical simulations is described. Thorough studies of the effect of resolution and blockage are performed in the laminar, two-dimensional regime, resulting in Reynolds number relationships that exactly reproduce experimental data. Based on these results, a stability analysis is performed to obtain wavelengths that are unstable against spanwise perturbations and the critical Reynolds number for the onset of three-dimensionality. The most unstable wavelengths of the “mode A” and “mode B” instabilities and its multiples are used as periodicity length for direct numerical simulations. Effects of integration time, resolution in streamwise as well as spanwise directions, and periodicity length on the flow quantities are studied. Numerically obtained Reynolds number relationships of Strouhal number and base-pressure coefficients that fit accurately within measured results are given for the first time. Curves for drag and lift coefficients are provided and compared with previous numerical studies. Furthermore, physical interpretations of the wake transition are discussed. Since the separation of physical features and effects of experimental arrangements are frequently an open question, our numerical results are able to supply a contribution to the understanding of the physics of cylinder flow. Received 12 September 2000 and accepted 26 June 2001     

Wake transition of two-dimensional cylinders and axisymmetric bluff bodies

This article presents a short review of the three-dimensional transition of wakes from two-dimensional bodies, such as cylinders of various cross-sectional shape, and axisymmetric tori or rings. The nature and sequence of instabilities are compared and contrasted, especially with reference to the base case of the circular cylinder wake. The latter has been the subject of intense interest and scrutiny for well over a century, and has implicitly assumed the role of providing the generic transition scenario for turbulent wake flow. For elongated cylinders with streamlined leading edges, the analogues of the instability modes for a circular cylinder become unstable in the reverse order, which may have implications for the route to wake turbulence for such bodies. As well, the analogue of mode B has a significantly increased relative spanwise wavelength and appears to have a different near-wake structure. At the other extreme, for a normal flat plate, the wake first becomes unstable to a nonperiodic mode that appears distinct from either of the dominant circular cylinder wake modes. For tori, which have a local geometry approaching a two-dimensional circular cylinder for high aspect ratios (ARs), the sequence of transitions with increasing Reynolds number is a strong function of AR. For intermediate ARs, the first occurring wake instability mode is a subharmonic mode. Possible underlying physical mechanisms leading to some of these instabilities are also examined. In particular, support is provided for the role of idealized physical instability mechanisms in controlling wavelength selection and amplification for the dominant wake instability modes. The results presented in this article focus on relevant research undertaken by the Monash group but draws in results from many other international groups.     

Unsteady RANS and detached-eddy simulations of flow around a circular cylinder in ground effect

Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulations and detached-eddy simulations (DES) were performed of flow around a circular cylinder placed near and parallel to a moving ground, on which substantially no boundary layer developed to interfere with the cylinder. The results were compared with experiments previously reported by the authors to examine how accurately the URANS and DES can predict the cessation of von Kármán-type vortex shedding and the attendant critical drag reduction of the cylinder in ground effect. The DES, which were performed in a three-dimensional domain with spanwise periodicity imposed, correctly captured the cessation of the vortex shedding, whereas both two- and three-dimensional URANS also predicted it but at a much smaller gap-to-diameter ratio compared with the experiments. The wake structures of the cylinder predicted by the DES were in good agreement with the experiments in both large- and small-gap regimes, and also in the intermediate-gap regime, where the DES captured the intermittence of the vortex shedding in the near-wake region. Based on the results obtained, further discussions are also given to the reason why the von Kármán-type vortices in the URANS solutions incorrectly ‘survived’ until the cylinder came much closer to the ground.     

Wake-induced vibrations of an elastically mounted cylinder located downstream of a stationary larger cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of flow past two unequal-sized circular cylinders in tandem arrangement are performed at low Reynolds numbers (Re). The upstream larger cylinder is stationary, while the downstream cylinder has both one (transverse-only) and two (transverse and in-line) degrees of freedom (1-dof and 2-dof, respectively). The Re, based on the free stream velocity U_∞ and the downstream cylinder diameter d, varies between 50 and 200 with a wide range of reduced velocities U_r. The diameter of the upstream cylinder is twice that of the downstream cylinder, and the center-to-center spacing is 5.5d. In general, for the 1-dof case, the calculations show that the wake-induced vibrations (WIV) of the downstream cylinder are greatly amplified when compared to the case of a single cylinder or two equal-sized cylinders. The transverse amplitudes build up to a significantly higher level within and beyond the lock-in region, and the U_r associated with the peak amplitude shifts toward a higher value. The dominant wake pattern is 2S mode for Re=50 and 100, while with the increase of Re to 150 and 200, the P+S mode can be clearly observed at some lower U_r. For the 2-dof vibrations, the transverse response characteristics are similar to those presented in the corresponding 1-dof case. The in-line responses are generally much smaller, except for several significant vibrations resulting from in-line resonance. The obvious in-line vibration may induce a C (chaotic) vortex shedding mode for higher Re (Re=200). With regard to the 2-dof motion trajectories, besides the typical figure-eight pattern, several odd patterns such as figure-double eight and single-looped trajectories are also obtained due to the wake interference effect.     

Numerical simulation of force and wake mode of an oscillating cylinder

The turbulent flow behind a circular cylinder subjected to forced oscillation is numerically studied at a Reynolds number of 5500 by using three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulations (3-D LES) technique with the Smagorinsky model. The filtered equations are discretised using the finite volume method with an O-type structured grid and a second-order accurate method in both time and space. Firstly, the main wake parameters of a stationary cylinder are examined and compared in the different grid resolutions. Secondly, a transversely oscillating cylinder with a constant amplitude in a uniform flow is investigated. The cylinder oscillation frequency ranges between 0.75 and 0.95 of the natural Kármán frequency, and the excitation amplitude is moderate, 50% of the cylinder diameter. The flow characteristics of an oscillating cylinder are numerically examined and the corresponding wake modes are captured firstly in 3-D LES at Re=5500. A transition between different wake modes is firstly investigated in a set of numerical simulations.     

Instability of cylinder wake under open-loop active control

Instability of a wake controlled by a streamwise Lorentz force is investigated through a Floquet stability analysis. The streamwise Lorentz force, which is a two-dimensional control input created by an electromagnetic actuator located on the cylinder surface,adjusts the base flow to affect the three-dimensional wake instability and achieve wake stabilization and transition delay. The instability mode at a Reynolds number Re = 300 can be transformed from B to A with N = 1.0, where N is an interaction number representing the strength of the Lorentz force relative to the inertial force in the fluid. The wake flow is Floquet stable when N increases to 1.3. The spanwise perturbation wavelengths are 3.926 D and 0.822 D in the modes A and B, respectively, where D is the cylinder diameter. In addition, the oscillating amplitudes of drag and lift are reduced with the increase in the interaction number. Particle tracing is used to explore the essential physical mechanism for mode transformation. The path lines show that suppression of flow separation hinders the fluid deformation and rotation, leading to the decrease in elliptic and hyperbolic instability regions, which is the material cause of mode transformation.All of the results indicate that wake stabilization and transition delay can be achieved under open-loop active control via the streamwise Lorentz force.     

A review of rotating cylinder wake transitions

Recent work on the flow past a rotating cylinder is reviewed and further investigated at low Reynolds numbers. The various two- and three-dimensional transitions that occur as the rotation rate is increased are detailed. Two steady states, steady state I and steady state II, are identified based on the physical characteristics of the wake and the drag force on the body. Steady state I occurs at lower rotation rates, while state steady state II occurs at higher rotation rates. Linear stability analysis shows that two three-dimensional modes become unstable on steady state I and steady state II. Floquet stability analysis of the unsteady base flows that occur at very low rotation rates shows the presence of five three-dimensional modes. The curves of marginal stability are presented, followed by a comparison of numerical simulations to their experimentally obtained counterparts. Furthermore, the spatio-temporal characteristics of each mode and the likely underlying physical mechanisms are briefly discussed.     

Numerical simulation of vortex-induced vibration of a circular cylinder at low mass-damping using RANS code

Fundamental research on vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a circular cylinder is still needed to build more rational VIV analysis tools for slender marine structures. Numerical results are presented for the response of an elastically mounted rigid cylinder at low mass damping constrained to oscillate transversely to a free stream. A two-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) code equipped with the SST k−ω turbulence model is applied for the numerical calculations. The numerical results are compared in detail with recent experimental and computational work. The Reynolds-averaging procedure erases the random disturbances in the vortex shedding process, so that the comparison between experimental data and the numerical results obtained by RANS codes may reveal some random characteristics of the VIV response. How random disturbance affects the observation in the experiments is discussed in this paper and the issues influencing the appearance of the upper branch in experiments are especially investigated. The absence of the upper branch in RANS simulations is explained in depth on account of discrepancies, which exist between experiments and RANS simulations. In addition, the formation of the 2P vortex shedding mode and its transition through the lock-in region are well reproduced in this investigation.     

Vortex-induced vibration and mode transition of a curved flexible free-hanging cylinder in exponential shear flows

This paper presents an experimental study of vortex-induced-vibration (VIV) of a curved flexible free-hanging cylinder in exponential shear flows. The emphasis is on previously unexplained phenomena in our early research and in some cases offers insights on the mode transition of nonlinear vibration behavior of long flexible cylinders. The experimental results illustrate that the cylinder undergoes multi-frequency response and the dominant frequency varies spatially. The IL and CF response and transition are out-of-sync. In the second (2nd) mode response, the spanwise response exhibits a mixed pattern with standing wave and traveling wave. The contribution of traveling wave becomes greater as the reduced velocity increases. Only two distinct branches of response, namely the initial and lower branches, are observed in each mode. The lower branches of the first (1st) and 2nd modes present the same normalized frequency. A phase jump around 180°occurs at the transition between initial branches and lower branches, accompanying with a switch between 2S $\leftrightarrow$ 2P or P+S vortex shedding modes.     

亚临界雷诺数下圆柱受迫振动的数值研究

在Navier-Stokes方程和k-ω湍流模型的基础上,利用流线迎风有限元方法结合ALE动网格技术对亚临界雷诺数下的圆柱受迫振动问题开展了数值模拟研究。本文的数值模型成功模拟了Re=5000条件下,圆柱发生受迫振动时尾迹区内的2S,2P和P+S尾流模式;对Re=10000情况下,无量纲振幅分别为0.3,0.4,0.5的圆柱受迫振动问题开展了数值模拟,分析了给定振幅条件下圆柱受力随振动频率的变化关系以及受迫振动的锁定区间。以上数值计算结果与Gopalkrishnan (1993)的实验结果基本符合。研究结果表明,二维数值模型能够基本正确地反映出圆柱发生受迫振动时的涡激振动特性以及有关的受力变化趋势,为今后进一步开展三维数值分析工作奠定了基础。     

Global aerodynamic instability of twin cylinders in cross flow

This paper comprises an in-depth physical discussion of the flow-induced vibration of two circular cylinders in view of the time-mean lift force on stationary cylinders and interaction mechanisms. The gap-spacing ratio T/D is varied from 0.1 to 5 and the attack angle α from 0° to 180° where T is the gap width between the cylinders and D is the diameter of a cylinder. Mechanisms of interaction between two cylinders are discussed based on time-mean lift, fluctuating lift, flow structures and flow-induced responses. The whole regime is classified into seven interaction regimes, i.e., no interaction regime; boundary layer and cylinder interaction regime; shear-layer/wake and cylinder interaction regime; shear-layer and shear-layer interaction regime; vortex and cylinder interaction regime; vortex and shear-layer interaction regime; and vortex and vortex interaction regime. Though a single non-interfering circular cylinder does not correspond to a galloping following quasi-steady galloping theory, two circular cylinders experience violent galloping vibration due to shear-layer/wake and cylinder interaction as well as boundary layer and cylinder interaction. A larger magnitude of fluctuating lift communicates to a larger amplitude vortex excitation.     

Simulations of Spatially Developing Two-Dimensional Shear Layers and Jets

A computational study of spatially evolving two-dimensional free shear flows has been performed using direct numerical simulation of the Navier–Stokes equations in order to investigate the ability of these two-dimensional simulations to predict the overall flow-field quantities of the corresponding three-dimensional “real” turbulent flows. The effects of inflow forcing on these two-dimensional flows has also been studied. Simulations were performed of shear layers, as well as weak (large co-flow and relatively weak shear) and strong (small co-flow and relatively strong shear) jets. Several combinations of discrete forcing with and without a broadband background spectrum were used. Although spatially evolving direct simulations of shear layers have been performed in the past, no such simulations of the plane jet have been performed to the best of our knowledge. It was found that, in the two-dimensional shear layers, external forcing led to a strong increase in the initial growth of the shear-layer thickness, followed by a region of decreased growth as in physical experiments. The final downstream growth rate was essentially unaffected by forcing. The mean velocity profile and the naturally evolving growth rate of the shear layer in the case of broadband forcing compare well with experimental data. However, the total and transverse fluctuation intensities are larger in the two-dimensional simulations with respect to experimental data. In the weak-jet simulations it was found that symmetric forcing completely overwhelms the natural tendency to transition to the asymmetric jet column mode downstream. It was observed that two-dimensional simulations of “strong” jets with a low speed co-flow led to a fundamentally different flow with large differences even in mean velocity profiles with respect to experimental data for planar jets. This was a result of the dominance of the two-dimensional mechanism of vortex dipole ejection in the flow due to the lack of spanwise instabilities. Experimental studies of planar jets do not show vortex dipole formation and ejection. A three-dimensional “strong”-jet simulation showed the rapid evolution of three-dimensionality effectively preventing this two-dimensional mechanism, as expected from experimental results. Received: 25 November 1996 and accepted 17 April 1997