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.     

Three-dimensional simulations of flow past two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangements at right and oblique attacks

The flow past two identical circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangements at right and oblique attack angles is numerically investigated by solving the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations using the Petrov–Galerkin finite element method. The study is focused on the effect of flow attack angle and gap ratio between the two cylinders on the vortex shedding flow and the hydrodynamic forces of the cylinders. For an oblique flow attack angle, the Reynolds number based on the velocity component perpendicular to the cylinder span is defined as the normal Reynolds number Re_N and that based on the total velocity is defined as the total Reynolds number Re_T. Simulations are conducted for two Reynolds numbers of Re_N=500 and Re_T=500, two flow attack angles of α=0° and 45° and four gap ratios of G/D=0.5, 1, 3 and 5. The biased gap flow for G/D=0.5 and 1 and the flip-flopping bistable gap flow for G/D=1 are observed for both α=0° and 45°. For a constant normal Reynolds number of Re_N=500, the mean drag and lift coefficients at α=0° are very close to those at α=45°. The difference between the root mean square (RMS) lift coefficient at α=0° and that at α=45° is about 20% for large gap ratios of 3 and 5. From small gap ratios of 0.5 and 1, the RMS lift coefficients at α=0° and 45° are similar to each other. The present simulations show that the agreement in the force coefficients between the 0° and 45° flow attack angles for a constant normal Reynolds number is better than that for a constant total Reynolds number. This indicates that the normal Reynolds number should be used in the implementation of the independence principle (i.e., the independence of the force coefficients on the flow attack angle). The effect of Reynolds number on the bistable gap flow is investigated by simulating the flow for Re_N=100–600, α=0° and 45° and G/D=1. Flow for G/D=1 is found to be two-dimensional at Re_N=100 and weak three-dimensional at Re_N=200. While well defined biased flow can be identified for Re_N=300–600, the gap flow for Re_N=100 and 200 changes its biased direction too frequently to allow stable biased flow to develop.     

Vortex-induced vibrations of two mechanically coupled circular cylinders with asymmetrical stiffness in side-by-side arrangements

Vortex-induced vibrations of two mechanically coupled circular cylinders with asymmetrical stiffness in side-by-side arrangements are numerically investigated in a uniform flow at a low Reynolds number of 100. The oscillation system is restricted to the cross-flow direction, giving rise to a coupled two-degree-of-freedom response. Attention is placed on the two cylinders with a center-to-center gap ratio of 4 and a mass ratio of 10. The flow dynamics are described by the two-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations and resolved by the Characteristic-Based-Split finite element method. The stiffness of the first spring that connects the lower cylinder to the wall is chosen such that the vortex-induced vibration of the associated single cylinder with the same stiffness undergoes a pre-synchronization (state A), synchronization (state B) and post-synchronization (state C), respectively. In each state, the stiffness of the second spring connecting the lower and upper cylinders is varied to cover both synchronization and de-synchronization regimes. Numerical results show that the mechanically coupled system locks on the first-mode natural frequency in state A, while on the second-mode natural frequency in states B and C. In such a lock-in regime, the amplitude ratios of the two oscillating and coupled cylinders collapse well onto the corresponding first or second free-vibration mode. The overall coupling mechanism is further explained in terms of the hydrodynamic coefficients, frequency characteristics, wake patterns and effective added mass, quantifying the associated fluid-structure interactions against those governing a single-degree-of-freedom, single-cylinder system.     

Large eddy simulations of the flow past two side-by-side circular cylinders

A LES Large Eddy Simulation is performed to study the flow past two side-by-side circular cylinders at a Reynolds number of 5800, based on the free-stream velocity and the cylinders diameter. The centre-to-centre transverse pitch ratio T/D is varied from 1.5 to 3. Both cylinders are slightly heated and the small amount of heat can be treated as a passive scalar. The numerical simulations are in good agreement with experimental observations.     

Characteristics and suppression of flow-induced vibrations of two side-by-side circular cylinders

A free-vibration experiment was conducted to examine flow-induced vibration (FIV) characteristics of two identical circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangements at spacing ratio T^⁎ (=T/D)=0.1–3.2, covering all possible flow regimes, where T is the gap spacing between the cylinders and D is the cylinder diameter. Each of the cylinders was two-dimensional, spring mounted, and allowed to vibrate independently in the cross-flow direction. Furthermore, an attempt to suppress flow-induced vibrations was undertaken by attaching flexible sheets at the rear stagnation lines of the cylinders. Based on the vibration responses of the two cylinders, four vibration patterns I, II, III and IV are identified at 0.1≤T^⁎<0.2, 0.2≤T^⁎≤0.9, 0.9<T^⁎<2.1 and 2.1≤T^⁎≤3.2, respectively. Pattern I is characterized by the two cylinders vibrating inphase^, with the maximum amplitudes occurring at the same reduced velocity Ur=10.47 almost two times that (Ur=5.25) for an isolated cylinder. Pattern II features no vibration generated for either cylinder. Pattern III exemplifies the occurrence of the maximum vibration amplitude of a cylinder at a smaller Ur and that of the other cylinder at a higher Ur compared to its counterpart in an isolated cylinder. Pattern IV represents each cylinder response resembling an isolated cylinder response; the vibrations of the two cylinders are, however, coupled inphase or antiphase. Linking maximum vibration amplitudes to fluctuating lift forces acting on fixed cylinders reveals that fluid–structure interactions between two fixed cylinders and between two elastic cylinders are not the same, even though vibration is not significant. As such, while two fixed cylinders generate narrow and wide wakes at 0.2≤T^⁎<1.7, two elastic cylinders do the same for a longer range of T^⁎ (0.2≤T^⁎<2.1). The flexible sheets effectively suppress FIV of the two cylinders in patterns III and IV, and reduce the vibration amplitude in pattern I. For the effectively controlled cases (patterns III and IV), the flexible sheet of each cylinder folds into a semicircle at the base, forming two free edges.     

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.     

Vortex-induced vibration of two elastically coupled cylinders in side-by-side arrangement

Vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of two elastically coupled circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement is investigated numerically. The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved by the finite element method for simulating the flow and the equation of motion is solved for calculating the vibration. The mass ratio (the ratio of the mass of the cylinder to the displaced fluid mass) is 2 and the Reynolds number is 5000 in the simulations. Simulations are carried out for one symmetric configuration (referred to be Case A) and one asymmetric configuration (referred to be Case B). In both Case A and Case B, the primary response frequencies of the two cylinders are found to be the same both inside and outside the lock-in regimes. Five response regimes are found in both cases and they are the first-mode lock-in regime, the second-mode lock-in regime, the sum-frequency lock-in regime and two transition regimes. When the vibration is transiting from the first- to the second-mode lock-in regimes, the vibration of each cylinder contains both first- and the second-mode natural frequencies, and the vibrations are usually irregular. In the transition regime between the second-mode lock-in and the sum-frequency lock-in regimes, the response frequencies of both cylinders increases with an increase in the reduced velocity until they are close to the sum of the two natural frequencies. In both cases, the lower boundary reduced velocity of the total lock-in regime (the sum of the five lock-in regimes) is about 3 and the upper boundary reduced velocity is about 11 times the first-to-second-mode natural frequency ratio.     

Vortex shedding and structural loading characteristics of finned cylinders

The flow development and structural loading characteristics of cylinders with equispaced circular fins were studied experimentally for a range of fin pitches with constant fin thickness and diameter. The experiments were performed for a range of Reynolds numbers, corresponding to the shear layer transition turbulent shedding regime. Time-resolved planar Particle Image Velocimetry and direct mean drag and fluctuating lift measurements are employed to relate spatio-temporal flow development to structural loading. The results show that wake development is dominated by vortex shedding for all the cases examined. However, the fin pitch ratio has a significant effect on vortex shedding characteristics. The addition of fins increases the characteristic spatial and temporal scales of the main spanwise vortices forming in the near wake. As the fin pitch is decreased to a critical value, the coalescence of boundary layers between the adjacent fins leads to a significant enlargement of the vortex formation region. A modified vortex shedding frequency scaling is proposed, based on the effective diameter, that incorporates a Reynolds number dependence associated with the lateral boundary layers developing on the fin surfaces. A detailed analysis is conducted to characterize the strength of the vortical structures forming in the near wake. The addition of the fins is shown to produce a stabilizing effect on the roll-up process, associated with a reduction in the generation of smaller scale, three-dimensional structures. The results demonstrate that the addition of fins leads to an increase in the mean drag, which is driven primarily by the associated increase in skin friction. The significant effect of the fin pitch ratio on the characteristics of the shed vortices as well as the size of the vortex formation region is shown to lead to substantial variations in the fluctuating loads.     

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.     

Numerical simulation of fluid flow of two rotating side-by-side circular cylinders by Lattice Boltzmann method

A numerical investigation of the two-dimensional laminar flow around side-by-side rotating circular cylinders using Lattice Boltzmann method is conducted. The effects of variation of rotational speed ratio β and different gap spacings g* at Reynolds number of 100 are studied. A various range of rotational speed ratio 0 ≤ β ≤ 2 for four different gap spacings of 3, 1.5, 0.7 and 0.2 are investigated. Flow conditions and its characteristics, such as lift and drag coefficients and Strouhal number, is studied. The results indicated that as β increases, the flow changes its condition from periodic to steady after a critical rotational speed. Results also indicated that variation of the gap spacing and rotational speed has significant effect on wake pattern. Wake pattern in turn has significant effect on the Strouhal number. Finally, the result is compared with experimental and other numerical data.     

Response and wake patterns of two side-by-side elastically supported circular cylinders in uniform laminar cross-flow

Vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of two side-by-side elastically supported circular cylinders in a uniform flow with the Reynolds number of 100 are numerically investigated by using the immersed boundary method. The cylinders are constrained to oscillate in the cross-flow direction with a center-to-center spacing ratio $T/D$ ranging from 2 to 5. The structural damping is set to zero to enable large vibration amplitudes in the range of reduced velocity $U_r=3-10$. It is found that the proximity of the cylinders does not have a significant impact to the lock-in region and cylinder responses, except at a small spacing ratio of $T/D=2$. The critical spacing ratio is determined as $T/D=4$ and beyond that the interaction between the cylinders is negligible. The following six near-wake patterns are observed; the irregular pattern, in-phase flip-flopping pattern, out-of-phase flip-flopping pattern, in-phase-synchronized pattern, antiphase-synchronized pattern and the biased antiphase-synchronized pattern. These patterns are plotted in a plane of $U_r$ and $T/D$, together with approximate borderlines to distinguish one region from the others. The time histories, spectral features and wavelet transform contours of drag and lift forces are presented to elucidate the mechanisms of the in-phase and out-of-phase flip-flopping phenomena. It is established that the in-phase flip-flopping stems from the long-short near-wake pattern and its low-frequency flip-over, whereas the out-of-phase pattern originates from the large vortex shedding from the fictitious bluff-body with an augmented characteristic length.     

Secondary instabilities of the in-phase synchronized wakes past two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement

In the present study we investigate the secondary instability of the in-phase synchronized vortex shedding from two side-by-side circular cylinders at low Reynolds numbers. Two distinct Floquet modes become unstable for different values of the Reynolds number and of the non-dimensional gap spacing, leading to the onset of the well-known flip-flop instability of the two cylinder wakes. In both cases the two-dimensional Floquet analysis reveals that at very low Reynolds numbers, a pair of complex-conjugate multipliers crosses the unit circle, showing the same frequency as the biased gap-flow flip-over. In the past literature this behaviour has been often ascribed to a bistability of the flow. On the contrary, the present DNS and stability results provide evidence that at low Reynolds numbers, the flip-flopping behaviour originates from a Neimark–Sacker bifurcation of the in-phase shedding cycle.     

层流条件下并列三圆柱涡激振动响应与尾流形态

应用基于嵌入式压强-力迭代的高精度浸入边界法研究等间距并列三圆柱涡激振动。其中,雷诺数Re=100,间距比T/D=2.0～5.0,圆柱质量比m*=2.0,折合流速Ur=2.0～10.0,忽略振动系统的阻尼且三圆柱仅横向振动。研究发现,圆柱的振动响应随折合流速的增加呈现初始响应分支和下端响应分支两种模式;振幅响应出现不连续现象,且随着间距比的增加,该不连续现象对应的折合流速增加;尾流模式与间距比和折合流速密切相关。共发现六种尾流形态,分别为窄宽窄尾流、不规律尾流、反相同步尾流、调制尾流、同相同步尾流和偏斜尾流。总结并绘制了尾流形态在参数空间[Ur,T/D]内的分区图。     

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.     

Interactive vortex shedding from a pair of circular cylinders in a transverse arrangement

Interactive vortex shedding in the multiply connected domain formed by a pair of circular cylinders is analysed by the FEM–FDM blending technique. The vorticity–streamfunction formulation is used to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations at Re = 100, with the time-dependent wall streamfunctions determined from the pressure constraint condition and the far-field streamfunctions from the integral series formula developed earlier by the authors. The standard Galerkin finite element method is used in the relatively small FEM subdomain and the finite difference method based on the general co-ordinate system in the rest of the flow domain. Symmetric, antisymmetric and asymmetric wake patterns are obtained confirming the earlier experimental findings. The bistable nature of the asymmetric vortex shedding as well as the intermittent drifting from one status to the other between symmetric and antisymmetric wake patterns are reported.     

虚拟边界法研究正交双圆柱及串列双圆球绕流

把Goldstein等人提出的虚拟边界法推广到三维情况,研究了 Re=150时不同间距下正交双圆柱绕流,和Re=250时不同间距下串列双 圆球绕流流场. 对于正交双圆柱绕流,当间距比大于3,下游圆柱对上游圆柱尾流的影响只 限定在下游圆柱的尾流所扫过的范围之内;当间距比小于等于3,下游圆柱对上游圆柱尾流 的影响扩大,下游圆柱尾流扫过区上下出现两排三维流向二次涡结构. 对于串列圆球绕流, 研究发现,在小间距比(L/D≈ 1.5)的情况下,由于上下游圆球尾流区的相互抑 制消除了压力不稳定性,整个流场呈现稳 态轴对称特征;间距比为2.0时,周向压力梯度诱发出流体的周向输运,流场呈现稳态非对 称性,但流场中存在特定的对称面;间距比增大到2.5后,绕流场开始周期振荡,原有的对 称面依旧存在;在间距比3.5时下游圆球下表面的涡结构强度有所减弱,导致占优频率发生 交替;间距比增至7.0时,整个流场恢复稳态特征,两圆球尾部同时出现双线涡,这时流场 对称面的位置发生了变动.