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.     

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.     

Flow-induced vibrations of a side-by-side arrangement of two flexible circular cylinders

Laboratory experiments with a side-by-side arrangement of two vertical, high aspect ratio (length over diameter) and low mass ratio (mass over mass of displaced fluid) cylinders, pin-jointed at the ends and vibrating at low mode number, were carried out in a free-surface water channel. The dynamic response of the models under two different wake interference situations is presented here. Initially, one of the cylinders was fixed and the other was completely free to move. In a second battery of experiments both cylinders were free to vibrate. A very large parameter space was covered by varying the free-stream flow speeds, the natural frequencies of the system and the separation between the models, allowing the identification of vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) and wake-coupled VIV (WCVIV). Amplitudes, frequencies and phase synchronisation between the models are presented.     

Flow past a square cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Results are presented for the flow past a stationary square cylinder at zero incidence for Reynolds number, Re ? 150. A stabilized finite‐element formulation is employed to discretize the equations of incompressible fluid flow in two‐dimensions. For the first time, values of the laminar separation Reynolds number, Re_s, and separation angle, θ_s, at Re_s are predicted. Also, the variation of θ_s with Re is presented. It is found that the steady separation initiates at Re = 1.15. Contrary to the popular belief that separation originates at the rear sharp corners, it is found to originate from the base point, i.e. θ_s=180^° at Re = Re_s. For Re > 5, θ_s approaches the limit of 135 ^°. The length of the separation bubble increases approximately linearly with increasing Re. The drag coefficient varies as Re^?0.66. Flow characteristics at Re ? 40 are also presented for elliptical cylinders of aspect ratios 0.2, 0.5, 0.8 and 1 (circle) having the same characteristic dimension as the square and major axis oriented normal to the free‐stream. Compared with a circular cylinder, the flow separates at a much lower Re from a square cylinder leading to the formation of a bigger wake (larger bubble length and width). Consequently, at a given Re, the drag on a square cylinder is more than the drag of a circular cylinder. This suggests that a cylinder with square section is more bluff than the one with circular section. Among all the cylinder shapes studied, the square cylinder with sharp corners generates the largest amount of drag. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow interference between a stationary cylinder and an elastically mounted cylinder arranged in proximity

The flow interference between two circular cylinders, one stationary and the other free to oscillate in the transverse direction, are studied numerically at Re=150. The incompressible Navier–Stokes equation in two space dimensions, an assumption that is expected to be valid at the considered Re, is solved by the characteristic-based-split (CBS) finite element method using the T4/C3 MINI triangular element. The center-to-center spacing between the two cylinders is fixed at 4D, where D is the cylinder diameter. The angle of incident flow, α, with respect to the line through the two cylinder centers, varies within the range from α=0° to 90°. For the elastically mounted cylinder, the reduced mass considered is M_r=2.0; the structural damping coefficient is assigned to be zero, which encourages high amplitude oscillations. For each α, the computations are conducted for a wide range of reduced velocities, U_r. The flow interference is examined by scrutinizing (i) the frequency characteristics of the vortex shedding and oscillation; (ii) the dynamic response of the oscillating cylinder, including the amplitude of displacement, the drag and lift force characteristics and the phase relationship between the lift and the displacement series; and (iii) the flow response in terms of the instantaneous vorticity field. It was found that the flow interference type is significantly affected by the angle of the incident flow. As the cylinder is oscillated outside of the region of the wake behind the stationary cylinder (α≥30°), it behaves similarly to its isolated counterpart. In contrast, if the cylinder is partially or entirely submerged within the upstream wake (α<30°), then both the flow and body responses are substantially modified due to the vigorous interaction between the upstream wake and the oscillating cylinder; the response therefore belongs to the wake-induced regime. The U_r range associated with the higher amplitude response is significantly shifted toward a higher U_r. The maximum vibration amplitude builds up to a significantly higher level, even increasing the U_r far beyond the resonance regime. In general, the wake flow associated with the wake-induced vibration (WIV) regime appears to be more unperiodic than does that corresponding to the vortex-induced oscillation regime. It is also revealed that both the vortex-cylinder and the shear layer-cylinder interaction mechanisms are responsible for the characteristics of the responses of oscillating cylinder. The larger momentum required for the higher oscillation amplitude is obtained from the duration of the energy transfer from the fluid to the cylinder, which is ascribed to the phase lag between the lift force and the cylinder displacement.     

On the validity of the independence principle applied to the vortex-induced vibrations of a flexible cylinder inclined at 60°

The vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of a flexible cylinder inclined at 60° are investigated by means of direct numerical simulation, at a Reynolds number equal to 500, based on the cylinder diameter and inflow velocity. The cylinder has a circular cross-section and a length to diameter aspect ratio equal to 50; it is modeled as a tension-dominated structure which is free to oscillate in the in-line and cross-flow directions. The behavior of the coupled fluid–structure system is examined for two values of the tension. Particular attention is paid to the validity of the independence principle (IP) which states that the inclined and normal-incidence body cases are comparable if the inflow velocity normal component is used to scale the physical quantities.The flexible cylinder exhibits regular VIV for both values of the tension. In the high-tension configuration, where the in-line bending of the structure remains small, the IP is shown to be valid for the prediction of the cylinder responses and the fluid forces. In contrast, in the lower-tension configuration, the behavior of the fluid–structure system deviates from the IP. It is shown that this deviation is connected to the larger in-line bending of the structure which leads to considerably different profiles of the flow velocity locally perpendicular to the body in the inclined and normal cylinder cases. Since the system behavior appears to be mainly driven by this component of the flow, the profile modification induced by the larger in-line bending results in distinct responses: multi-frequency vibrations are observed in the inclined cylinder case whereas mono-frequency oscillations of larger amplitudes develop at normal incidence.     

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.     

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.     

Suppression of vortex shedding from a rectangular cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Small elements of circular, square, triangular and thin-strip cross-sections are used to suppress vortex shedding from a rectangular cylinder of stream-wise to transverse scale ratio L/B=3.0 at Reynolds numbers in the range of Re=V_∞B/ν=75–130, where V_∞ is the on-coming velocity of the stream, and ν is the kinematic viscosity. The relative transverse dimension of the small element b/B is fixed at 0.2. The results of numerical simulation and visualization experiment show that, vortex shedding from both sides of the cylinder can be suppressed and the fluctuating drag and lift of the cylinder can be greatly reduced, if the element is placed in a certain region referred to as the effective zone. Comparisons at a specific Reynolds number indicate that the square element produces the largest size of the effective zone, whereas the triangular element yields the smallest. Results also show that the effective zone for the square element shrinks with increasing Re and disappears at Re>130. Independent of element cross-section shape and Reynolds number, the center of the effective zone is always at X/B=2.5–3.0 and Y/B≈1.0. The mechanism of the suppression is discussed from the view points of velocity profile stability and stress distribution.     

Two-degree-of-freedom vortex-induced vibrations of a circular cylinder at Re=3900

The vortex-induced vibrations of an elastically mounted circular cylinder are investigated on the basis of direct numerical simulations. The body is free to move in the in-line and cross-flow directions. The natural frequencies of the oscillator are the same in both directions. The Reynolds number, based on the free stream velocity and cylinder diameter, is set to 3900 and kept constant in all simulations. The behavior of the coupled flow-structure system is analyzed over a wide range of the reduced velocity (inverse of the natural frequency) encompassing the lock-in range, i.e. where body motion and flow unsteadiness are synchronized. The statistics of the structural responses and forces are in agreement with prior experimental results. Large-amplitude vibrations develop in both directions. The in-line and cross-flow oscillations are close to harmonic; they exhibit a frequency ratio of 2 and a variable phase difference across the lock-in range. Distinct trends are noted in the force-displacement phasing mechanisms in the two directions: a phase difference jump associated with a sign change of the effective added mass and a vibration frequency crossing the natural frequency is observed in the cross-flow direction, while no phase difference jump occurs in the in-line direction. Higher harmonic components arise in the force spectra; their contributions become predominant when the cylinder oscillates close to the natural frequency. The force higher harmonics are found to impact the transfer of energy between the flow and the moving body, in particular, by causing the emergence of new harmonics in the energy transfer spectrum.     

Vortex and wake-induced vibrations of a tandem arrangement of two flexible circular cylinders with near wake interference

Results showing the dynamic response of a tandem arrangement of two vertical high aspect ratio (length over diameter) and low mass ratio (mass over mass of displaced fluid) flexible cylinders vibrating at low mode number are presented in this paper. Two circular cylinder models were aligned with the flow, so the downstream or trailing cylinder was immersed in the wake of the leading one. Centre-to-centre distances from 2 to 4 diameters were studied. The models were very similar in design, with external diameters of 16 mm and a total length of 1.5 m. Reynolds numbers up to 12 000 were achieved with reduced velocities, based on the fundamental natural frequency of the downstream cylinder in still water, up to 16. The trailing model had a mass ratio of 1.8 with a combined mass-damping parameter of 0.049, whilst the corresponding figures for the leading cylinder were 1.45 and 0.043, respectively. The dynamic response of the trailing model has been analysed by studying cross-flow and in-line amplitudes, dominant frequencies and modal amplitudes. The dynamic response of the leading one is analysed by means of its cross-flow amplitudes and dominant frequencies and it is also related to the motion of the trailing cylinder by studying the synchronisation between their instantaneous cross-flow motions. Planar digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) was used to visualise the wake. Different response regimes have been identified based on the type of oscillations exhibited by the cylinders: vortex-induced (VIV), wake-induced (WIV) or combinations of both.     

Transverse galloping at low Reynolds numbers

The possibility of transverse galloping of a square cylinder at low Reynolds numbers (Re≤200, so that the flow is presumably laminar) is analysed. Transverse galloping is here considered as a one-degree-of-freedom oscillator subjected to fluid forces, which are described by using the quasi-steady hypothesis (time-averaged data are extracted from previous numerical simulations). Approximate solutions are obtained by means of the method of Krylov-Bogoliubov, with two major conclusions: (i) a square cylinder cannot gallop below a Reynolds number of 159 and (ii) in the range 159≤Re≤200 the response exhibits no hysteresis.     

Control of mean and fluctuating forces on a circular cylinder at high Reynolds numbers

A narrow strip is used to control mean and fluctuating forces on a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers from 2.0 × 10⁴ to 1.0 × 10⁵. The axes of the strip and cylinder are parallel. The control parameters are strip width ratio and strip position characterized by angle of attack and distance from the cylinder. Wind tunnel tests show that the vortex shedding from both sides of the cylinder can be suppressed, and mean drag and fluctuating lift on the cylinder can be reduced if the strip is installed in an effective zone downstream of the cylinder. A phenomenon of mono-side vortex shedding is found. The strip-induced local changes of velocity profiles in the near wake of the cylinder are measured, and the relation between base suction and peak value in the power spectrum of fluctuating lift is studied. The control mechanism is then discussed from different points of view. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10172087 and 10472124). The English text was polished by Yunming Chen.     

Control of vortex shedding behind circular cylinder for flows at low Reynolds numbers

It has been observed by researchers in the past that vortex shedding behind circular cylinders can be altered, and in some cases suppressed, over a limited range of Reynolds numbers by proper placement of a second, much smaller, ‘control’ cylinder in the near wake of the main cylinder. Results are presented for numerical computations of some such situations. A stabilized finite element method is employed to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in the primitive variables formulation. At low Reynolds numbers, for certain relative positions of the main and control cylinder, the vortex shedding from the main cylinder is completely suppressed. Excellent agreement is observed between the present computations and experimental findings of other researchers. In an effort to explain the mechanism of control of vortex shedding, the streamwise variation of the pressure coefficient close to the shear layer of the main cylinder is compared for various cases, with and without the control cylinder. In the cases where the vortex shedding is suppressed, it is observed that the control cylinder provides a local favorable pressure gradient in the wake region, thereby stabilizing the shear layer locally. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.