Simultaneous CFD evaluation of VIV suppression using smaller control cylinders

Two-degree-of-freedom vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of a circular cylinder with and without two smaller control cylinders are investigated numerically by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models coupling with a fluid–structure interaction (FSI) computational method. The numerical model is validated against experimental data of VIV of an isolated cylinder in uniform current. The study is aimed to investigate the effect of smaller control cylinders on VIV suppression. The trajectories of cylinder motion, amplitude response, and temporal evolution of vortex shedding and streamlines are obtained by conducting a series of simulations. And the effect of Reynolds number, located angle and rotational rate of small control cylinders are discussed in detail. It is found that placing small cylinders at 45° to the downstream vector can achieve a good suppression effect, but the effect is different at different Re. Rotating control cylinders with a reasonable rotation velocity can further enhance the VIV suppression by injecting enough momentum into the boundary layer of the main cylinder. The best effect is found at U_c=10, which has a 64.56% reduction in the transverse vibration response.     

Numerical study of flow-induced vibrations of cylinders under the action of nonlinear energy sinks (NESs)

An isolated two-dimensional circular cylinder with two linear degrees of freedom, parallel and perpendicular to the free-stream direction, and owning a nonlinear energy sink (NES) is investigated by fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulations to assess vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) at moderate Reynolds numbers. Subsequently, the wake-induced vibration (WIV) of a pair of identical cylinders under the action of two NES in a tandem arrangement and in a proximity–wake interference regime is explored using the same approach. The NES parameters (mass, nonlinear stiffness and damping) are investigated to determine their effects on the dynamic response of a single degree of freedom (in transverse flow direction) coupled system by a reduced-order model based on an experimentally validated van der Pol oscillator. The CFD model coupled with FSI method is also validated against VIV experimental data for an isolated cylinder in a uniform flow. The study is aimed to investigate the effect of the passive suppression NES device on VIV and WIV. The amplitude response, trajectories of cylinder motion and temporal evolutions of vortex shedding are obtained by conducting a series of numerical simulations. It is found that placing a tuned NES in the cylinders can provide good suppression effect; however, the effectiveness is function of the reduced velocity.     

THE FLUID AND MECHANICAL COUPLING BETWEEN TWO CIRCULAR CYLINDERS IN TANDEM ARRANGEMENT

The effect of the fluid and mechanical coupling between two flexible circular cylinders on their vortex-induced oscillations is examined in a wind tunnel. The cylinders are in a tandem arrangement and a mechanical coupling allows vibrations in phase and out of phase. The separation between the cylinders ranges between 7 and 25 diameters. When the cylinders are coupled only by fluid, the upstream cylinder behaves as an isolated one, while the downstream cylinder response depends on the separation and presents a hysteresis and three discontinuities. The hysteresis and its discontinuities agree with those of the upstream cylinder and the third discontinuity coincides with the end of synchronization of the windward cylinder. The addition of the mechanical coupling complicates the dynamic response which is greatly influenced by the separation and the coupling mode involved. The results are interpreted according to those dealing with the fluid coupling only. The effect of small-scale grid turbulence is also examined.     

Suppression of wake-induced vibration of tandem cylinders with free-to-rotate control plates

Experiments have been carried out on a pair of circular cylinders to investigate the effectiveness of pivoting parallel plates as wake-induced vibration suppressors. Measurements of amplitude of vibration and average drag are presented for a circular cylinder, free to respond in the cross-flow direction, with mass ratio 2 and a damping level of 0.7% of critical damping. Reduced velocities were up to nearly 30, with associated Reynolds numbers up to 2.3×10⁴ and the results presented are for a centre-to-centre separation of cylinders of 4 diameters. It is shown how vortex-induced vibration and wake-induced vibration of the downstream cylinder of a tandem pair can be practically eliminated by using free to rotate parallel plates. The device achieves vibration suppression with a substantial drag reduction when compared to a pair of fixed tandem cylinders at the same Reynolds number. Results for a single splitter plate and helical strakes are also presented for comparison and were found not to be effective in suppressing wake-induced vibration.     

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON FLOW-INDUCED VIBRATION OF TWO CYLINDERS IN TANDEM ARRANGEMENTS AND ITS COUPLING MECHANISMS

对雷诺数Re= 100 条件下串列双圆柱的流致振动进行了数值模拟. 圆柱的质量比m^*均为2.0,间距比L/D 为2.0 5.0. 考虑两种工况:(a) 上游圆柱固定,下游圆柱可沿横流向自由振动;(b) 上、下游圆柱均可沿横流向自由振动. 结果表明:无论上游圆柱静止或者振动,下游圆柱横向振幅明显大于单圆柱的. 工况(b) 的下游圆柱最大振幅要大于工况(a) 的,这是由于两圆柱均振动时,两圆柱之间耦合作用增强,上游圆柱的尾流和下游圆柱的振动之间“相互调节” 作用显著. 对工况(b) 的下游圆柱振动和间隙流之间的作用机制进行了详细的研究,发现当上游圆柱脱落的自由剪切层重新附着于下游圆柱上并且完全从间隙之间通过时,下游圆柱的振幅最大.     

串列双圆柱流致振动的数值模拟及其耦合机制

对雷诺数Re= 100 条件下串列双圆柱的流致振动进行了数值模拟. 圆柱的质量比m*均为2.0,间距比L/D 为2.0 5.0. 考虑两种工况:(a) 上游圆柱固定,下游圆柱可沿横流向自由振动;(b) 上、下游圆柱均可沿横流向自由振动. 结果表明:无论上游圆柱静止或者振动,下游圆柱横向振幅明显大于单圆柱的. 工况(b) 的下游圆柱最大振幅要大于工况(a) 的,这是由于两圆柱均振动时,两圆柱之间耦合作用增强,上游圆柱的尾流和下游圆柱的振动之间“相互调节” 作用显著. 对工况(b) 的下游圆柱振动和间隙流之间的作用机制进行了详细的研究,发现当上游圆柱脱落的自由剪切层重新附着于下游圆柱上并且完全从间隙之间通过时,下游圆柱的振幅最大.      

Vortex induced vibration and vortex shedding characteristics of two side-by-side circular cylinders of different diameters in close proximity in steady flow

This paper presents results of a numerical study of vortex-induced vibrations of two side-by-side circular cylinders of different diameters in steady incompressible flow. The two-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a SST k–ω turbulence model are solved using the Petrov–Galerkin finite element method and the Arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian scheme. The diameter ratio of the two cylinders is fixed at 0.1 and the mass ratio of both cylinders is 5.0. Both cylinders are constrained to oscillate in the transverse direction only. The Reynolds number based on the large cylinder diameter and free stream velocity is fixed at 5000. The effects of the reduced velocities of the cylinders on the vibration amplitude and vortex shedding regimes are investigated. It is found that for the range of parameters considered, collision between the two cylinders is dependent on the difference of the reduced velocities of the cylinders. Presence of the small cylinder in the proximity of the large one appears to have significant effects on the vortex shedding regime and vibration amplitude of the large cylinder.     

Flow-induced vibration of a circular cylinder subjected to wake interference at low Reynolds number

Two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations of the flow around two circular cylinders in tandem arrangements are performed. The upstream cylinder is fixed and the downstream cylinder is free to oscillate in the transverse direction, in response to the fluid loads. The Reynolds number is kept constant at 150 for the two-dimensional simulations and at 300 for the three-dimensional simulations, and the reduced velocity is varied by changing the structural stiffness. The in-line centre-to-centre distance is varied from 1.5 to 8.0 diameters, and the results are compared to that of a single isolated flexible cylinder with the same structural characteristics, m^?=2.0 and ζ=0.007. The calculations show that significant changes occur in the dynamic behaviour of the cylinders, when comparing the flow around the tandem arrangements to that around an isolated cylinder: for the tandem arrangements, the lock-in boundaries are wider, the maximum displacement amplitudes are greater and the amplitudes of vibration for high reduced velocities, outside the lock-in, are very significant. The main responsible for these changes appears to be the oscillatory flow in the gap between the cylinders.     

涡激诱导并列双圆柱碰撞数值模拟研究

圆柱类结构物的涡激振动是工程中较为常见的一种现象,如果圆柱结构物之间的距离较小, 就会产生涡激诱导碰撞现象,而涡激碰撞会比涡激振动对结构物疲劳破坏产生更严重的威胁.采用浸入边界法模拟流体中的动边界问题,避免了传统贴体网格方法在求解流体中存在固体间碰撞问题时出现数值求解不稳定问题,采用有限元方法对圆柱的运动和碰撞进行求解,通过数据回归方法建立了流体流动条件下的润滑模型,对不同间隙比下涡激诱导并列双圆柱振动及碰撞过程进行了数值模拟, 数值结果表明,如果两圆柱产生了碰撞将会有连续的碰撞发生, 碰撞时出现了多阶频率,振动主频率要比无碰撞时大, 两圆柱碰撞时的相对速度比自由来流速度小;当两圆柱相互接近时, 随着涡环分离角度的逐渐倾斜, 横向流体力先逐渐减小,当两圆柱间涡环开始相互影响发生挤压时, 横向流体力开始逐渐增大;当两圆柱开始反弹时, 两圆柱间形成了低压区, 改变了横向流体阻力的方向,使两圆柱又产生了接近运动,如此反复从而产生了碰撞后横向流体力和圆柱速度的振荡现象.      

上游静止方柱尾流对下游方柱体尾激振动效应影响

基于半隐式特征线分裂算子有限元法,对低雷诺数下串列布置上游静止方柱--下游双自由度运动方柱体结构的尾激振动问题进行了研究.首先与现有文献结果进行对比验证该方法的正确性.然后着重分析了雷诺数($Re$)与折减速度$(U_{\rm r})$两个关键参数对下游方柱尾激振动响应的影响,同时将计算结果与单方柱工况进行了对比. 数值计算结果表明,雷诺数和折减速度对下游方柱的振幅、振动频率和运动轨迹等动力响应特性的影响较大.随着雷诺数的增大,双柱系统的互扰效应从以涡激效应为主逐渐转变为尾激效应发挥主导作用,从而导致下游方柱的振动响应增强.单方柱工况结构运动轨迹均呈"8"字形. 然而,下游方柱的运动轨迹会随着雷诺数的增加而变得复杂.雷诺数较小时($Re\!=\!40$, 80),下游方柱的运动轨迹基本为"8"字形. 雷诺数较大时($Re\!=\!120$, 160,200), 下游方柱的运动轨迹会出现双"8"字形. 同时,下游方柱的尾流场特性主要呈现2S, 2S*, 2P, 2T, P+S和稳态6种模式.最后, 通过对流场特性进行分析,揭示了串列双方柱系统尾激振动效应的作用机理.      

串列布置三圆柱涡激振动频谱特性研究

对串列三圆柱体双自由度涡激振动问题进行了数值计算, 并分析了雷诺数、固有频率比和约化速度对串列三圆柱体结构动力响应及频谱特性的影响. 研究发现: 雷诺数、频率比对上游圆柱的振幅和流体力系数的影响较小. 中游圆柱频率锁定区域随着雷诺数的增大而增大, 其动力响应受上游圆柱尾流的影响较大, 但频率比的影响较小. 同时, 流体力系数在约化速度较小时受雷诺数和频率比的影响较大. 另外, 下游圆柱的振幅和流体力系数受雷诺数及频率比的影响较大. 雷诺数、频率比和约化速度对圆柱流体力系数能量谱密度(PSD)曲线中主峰幅值、频谱成分及波动性的影响较大. 流体力系数PSD曲线波动性的增强, 导致圆柱运动轨迹会从"8"字形转变成不规则形状. 当频率比为2.0时, 上游圆柱尾流出现P$+$S模式, 导致其发生非对称运动, 且升、阻力系数PSD曲线主峰重合. 最后, 激励荷载平均功率值随约化速度的变化趋势与对应的结构动力响应的变化类似. 在同一约化速度区间内, 结构振动响应的强弱与位移的平均功率值成正比. 对不同约化速度区间内的升力系数功率谱密度分析时, 振动频率比($f_{s}/f_{n, y})$对结构振动响应的影响更大.      

On characteristics of two-degree-of-freedom vortex induced vibration of two low-mass circular cylinders in proximity at low Reynolds number

Two-degree-of-freedom vortex induced vibrations (VIVs) of two identical spring-supported circular cylinders in proximity with the mass ratio of 2 and zero damping at Re of 100 are numerically studied. Totally 20 arrangements of cylinders are investigated combining four stagger angles and five normalized center-to-center spacings. Results show that the in-line vibration amplitude is comparable to the transverse one for most arrangements and usually accompanies irregular cylinder trajectories. Extremely slender figure-8 cylinder trajectories usually seen in single-cylinder VIVs exist only for the tandem arrangements. Arranging the trailing cylinder to vibrate near the wake boundary of the leading cylinder enhances the possibility of irregular trajectories and impacts of both cylinders. Impact between cylinders must occur in cases with irregular cylinder trajectories; however, irregular cylinder trajectories could be found in impact-free cases. The stagger angle significantly changes the attribute of the transverse vibration frequency, toward either the single-cylinder VIV frequency or natural structure frequency in still fluid. The major transverse vibration frequency and the natural structure frequency in still fluid are decoupled for all the side-by-side arrangements and some far spaced tandem arrangements and highly correlated for non-tandem and non-side-by-side arrangements. The time-averaged impact frequency increases with decreasing normalized center-to-center spacing for most combinations of stagger angle and reduced velocity. Apart from the side-by-side arrangements, high-frequency impacts occur when the trailing cylinder is initially located in or near the wake zone of the leading cylinder. The mechanism of trailing cylinder chopping the gap-flow vortices plays an important role in determining the near-wake vortex structures for all non-side-by-side arrangements.     

On the origin of wake-induced vibration in two tandem circular cylinders at low Reynolds number

We numerically investigate flow-induced vibrations of circular cylinders arranged in a tandem configuration at low Reynolds number. Results on the coupled force dynamics are presented for an isolated cylinder and a pair of rigid cylinders in a tandem configuration where the downstream cylinder is elastically mounted and free to vibrate transversely. Contrary to turbulent flows at high Reynolds number, low frequency component with respect to shedding frequency is absent in laminar flows. Appearance and disappearance of the vorticity regions due to reverse flow on the aft part of the vibrating cylinder is characterized by a higher harmonic in transverse load, which is nearly three times of the shedding frequency. We next analyze the significance of pressure and viscous forces in the composition of lift and their phase relations with respect to the structural velocity. For both the isolated and tandem vibrating cylinders, the pressure force supplies energy to the moving cylinder, whereas the viscous force dissipates the energy. Close to the excitation frequency ratio of one, the ratio of transverse viscous force to pressure force is found to be maximum. In addition, movement of stagnation point plays a major role on the force dynamics of both configurations. In the case of isolated cylinder, displacement of the stagnation point is nearly in-phase with the velocity. During vortex-body interaction, the phase difference between the transverse pressure force and velocity and the location of stagnation point determines the loads acting on the cylinder. When the transverse pressure force is in-phase with velocity, the stagnation point moves to higher suction region of the cylinder. In the case of the tandem cylinder arrangement, upstream vortex shifts the stagnation point on the downstream cylinder to the low suction region. Thus a larger lift force is observed for the downstream cylinder as compared to the vibrating isolated cylinder. Phase difference between the transverse load and the velocity of the downstream cylinder determines the extent of upstream wake interaction with the downstream cylinder. When the cylinder velocity is in-phase with the transverse pressure load component, interaction of wake vortex with the downstream cylinder is lower compared to other cases considered in this study. We extend our parametric study of tandem cylinders for the longitudinal center-to-center spacing ranging from 4 to 10 diameter.     

Interference effect of an upstream larger cylinder on the lock-in vibration of a flexibly mounted circular cylinder

Experiments have been carried out to investigate the flow-induced vibration response of a flexibly mounted circular cylinder located in the vicinity of a larger cylinder and subjected to cross-flow. The interfering larger cylinder was placed upstream and had a diameter twice that of the vibrating cylinder. Complex interaction was observed between the flow over the two cylinders. The vibration responses of the flexible cylinder were classified into different regimes according to the relative positions of the two cylinders. In the-side-by-side arrangement and the tandem or near-tandem arrangement, flow-induced vibrations of the flexible cylinder were greatly suppressed. In the staggered arrangement which covered a large portion of the relative cylinder positions being investigated, vibrations of the smaller cylinder were greatly amplified. The vibration response curves were also largely modified with a broadening of the lock-in resonance range. A shift of the peak reduced velocity for maximum vibration response was also found. Flow visualizations and wake velocity measurements suggested that the modifications of the vibration responses were related to the presence or absence of constant or intermittent flow through the gap region between the two cylinders. The proposed mechanisms of flow interactions and the resulting vibration response characteristics could explain previous observations on flow-induced vibrations of two equal-sized circular cylinders reported in the literature.     

Flow-induced oscillation of two circular cylinders in tandem arrangement at low Re

Results are presented for flow-induced vibrations of a pair of equal-sized circular cylinders of low nondimensional mass (m^*=10) in a tandem arrangement. The cylinders are free to oscillate both in streamwise and transverse directions. The Reynolds number, based on the free-stream speed and the diameter of the cylinders, D is 100 and the centre-to-centre distance between the cylinders is 5.5D. The computations are carried out for reduced velocities in the range 2≤U^*≤15. The structural damping is set to zero for enabling maximum amplitudes of oscillation. A stabilized finite element method is utilized to carry out the computations in two dimensions. Even though the response of the upstream cylinder is found to be qualitatively similar to that of an isolated cylinder, the presence of a downstream cylinder is found to have significant effect on the behaviour of the upstream cylinder. The downstream cylinder undergoes very large amplitude of oscillations in both transverse and streamwise directions. The maximum amplitude of transverse response of the downstream cylinder is quite similar to that of a single cylinder at higher Re beyond the laminar regime. Lock-in and hysteresis are observed for both upstream and downstream cylinders. The downstream cylinder undergoes large amplitude oscillations even beyond the lock-in state. The phase between transverse oscillations and lift force suffers a 180 jump for both the cylinders almost in the middle of the synchronization regime. The phase between the transverse response of the two cylinders is also studied. Complex flow patterns are observed in the wake of the freely vibrating cylinders. Based on the phase difference and the flow patterns, the entire flow range is divided into five sub-regions.     

Flow-induced vibrations of two circular cylinders in tandem with shear flow at low Reynolds number

The flow-induced vibrations of two elastically mounted circular cylinders subjected to the planar shear flow in tandem arrangement are studied numerically at Re=160. A four-step semi-implicit Characteristic-based split (4-SICBS) finite element method is developed under the framework of the fractional step method to cope with the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) problem. For the computational code verification, two benchmark problems are examined in the laminar region: flow-induced vibration of an elastically mounted cylinder having two degrees of freedom and past two stationary ones in tandem arrangement. Regarding the two-cylinder VIVs in shear flow, the computation is conducted with the cylinder reduced mass M_r=2.5π and the structural damping ratio ξ=0.0. The effects of some key parameters, such as shear rate (k=0.0, 0.05, 0.1), reduced velocity (U_r=3.0–18.0) and spacing ratio (L_x/D=2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 8.0), are demonstrated. It is observed that the shear rate and reduced velocity play an important role in the VIVs of both cylinders at various center-to-center distances. Additionally, in comparison with the single cylinder case, a further study indicated that the gap flow has a significant impact on such a dynamic system, leading it to be more complex. The results show that, the performances of ‘dual-resonant’ are discovered in the shear flow. A valley is formed in transverse oscillation amplitude of DC for each spacing ratio when U_r is about 6.0. For the X–Y trajectories of the circular cylinders, figure-eight, figure-O and oval shape are obtained. Finally, the interactions between cylinders are revealed, together with the wake-induced vibration (WIV) mechanism underlying the oscillation characteristics of both cylinders exposed to shear flow. Besides, the “T+P” wake pattern is discovered herein.     

Three-dimensional computation for flow-induced vibrations of an upstream circular cylinder in two tandem circular cylinders

It is well known from a lot of experimental data that fluid forces acting on two tandem circular cylinders are quite different from those acting on a single circular cylinder. Therefore, we first present numerical results for fluid forces acting on two tandem circular cylinders, which are mounted at various spacings in a smooth flow, and second we present numerical results for flow-induced vibrations of the upstream circular cylinder in the tandem arrangement. The two circular cylinders are arranged at close spacing in a flow field. The upstream circular cylinder is elastically placed by damper-spring systems and moves in both the in-line and cross-flow directions. In such models, each circular cylinder is assumed as a rigid body. On the other hand, we do not introduce a turbulent model such as the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) or Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models into the numerical scheme to compute the fluid flow. Our numerical procedure to capture the flow-induced vibration phenomena of the upstream circular cylinder is treated as a fluid-structure interaction problem in which the ideas of weak coupling is taken into consideration.     

THE FLOW INTERACTION BETWEEN A STATIONARY CYLINDER AND A DOWNSTREAM FLEXIBLE CYLINDER

This paper deals with an experimental investigation of the dynamic response of a long flexible circular cylinder in the wake of a stationary geometrically similar cylinder. The system has a low damping ratio. The tandem and staggered arrangements have been considered. The separations investigated are typical of transmission line bundles and range from 7 to 25 diameters and Reynolds number ranges from 5 000 to 27 000. For the tandem cylinders, the results indicate that (a) the dynamic response of the downstream cylinder is no longer hysteretic, (b) the synchronization onset is at higher reduced velocities and (c) the synchronization region is wider than that of an isolated cylinder; this region is twice as large for a separation of 10 diameters and decreases with increasing spacing. Despite the absence of the hysteresis loop and its associated discontinuities, two vortex patterns are present around the resonance velocity. A small decrease of the maximum amplitude of oscillation with increasing spacing has also been observed, as well as a reduction of the velocity for which this maximum occurs. For separations of 7 and 8·5 diameters, the leeward cylinder exhibits a combination of vortex-induced and wake-galloping oscillations. For the staggered arrangement, the increase of the stagger angle β reduces the synchronization onset velocity and the synchronization region and beyond β=20°, the downstream cylinder behaves as an isolated one.     

On the response and wake modes of a cylinder undergoing streamwise vortex-induced vibration

This brief communication elaborates on aspects of the free response and wake modes of a flexibly-supported cylinder undergoing vortex-induced vibration in the streamwise direction only in view of some recent studies in the literature. It discusses the meaning of the term ‘lock-in’ employed in the context of forced excitation and free response studies, the influence of added mass on the response frequency, the competition between alternating and symmetrical modes and associated excitation mechanisms, and the drop in amplitude in the range separating the two response branches. A few similarities between single-degree-of-freedom streamwise and transverse vibrations are brought to light. Finally, attention is drawn to some discrepancies between published results which call for further understanding of the complicated nature of vortex-induced vibration.     

低雷诺数串列双方柱流致振动质量比效应的数值研究

为澄清串列双方柱流致振动的质量比效应, 采用数值模拟方法, 在雷诺数为150时, 研究了质量比($m^{\ast }=3$, 10, 20)对下游方柱振动响应特性的影响规律, 分析了下游方柱尾流模态的演变过程, 探讨了导致下游方柱振动的流固耦合机制. 结果表明: 质量比对下游方柱的流致振动有重要影响, 低质量比($m^{\ast }=3$)时下游方柱的振动响应更为复杂, 随着折减速度的增大, 下游方柱并未出现传统“锁定”现象(即振动频率比$f_{y}$/$f_{\rm n} \approx1$的锁定), 而发生了“弱锁定”现象(即$f_{y}/f_{\rm n}<1$的锁定); 随着质量比的增加($m^{\ast }=10$和20), “弱锁定”现象消失, 而出现传统“锁定”现象, 且下游方柱横流向最大振幅减小. 质量比对串列双方柱的柱心间距有明显影响, 低质量比($m^{\ast }=3$)时的柱间距在振动锁定区内会急剧减小, 而较高质量比($m^{\ast }=10$和20)下的柱间距则变化不大. 此外, 质量比对串列双方柱的尾流模态和流固耦合机制也有显著影响, 其中低质量比($m^{\ast }=3$)下的情况更为多样.