VIV suppression of a two-degree-of-freedom circular cylinder and drag reduction of a fixed circular cylinder by the use of helical grooves

Experimental investigations have been carried out to examine the effects of triple-starting helical grooves on the drag of fixed circular cylinders and the vortex-induced vibration of elastically supported cylinders. For the elastically supported cylinder, the Reynolds number varied from 1.3×10⁴ to 4.6×10⁴, whilst for the fixed cylinder from 3.1×10⁴ to 3.75×10⁵. A comparative approach which allows direct comparisons of the results was adopted where two cylinders of identical dimensions and physical properties with or without helical surface grooves were tested in exactly same experimental set-ups. In the elastically supported cylinder tests, the cylinders were attached to a vertically cantilevered supporting rod and towed in a towing tank. Both the in-line and cross-flow vibrations were permitted. In the fixed cylinder tests, the cylinders were supported on rigid vertical struts and towed horizontally in the same towing tank. It is found that for the case investigated the helical grooves were effective in suppressing the vortex-induced cross-flow vibration amplitudes with the peak amplitude reduced by 64%. Drag reductions of up to 25% were also achieved in the sub-critical Reynolds number range tested in the study for the fixed cylinders.     

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.     

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.     

Inertia and drag of cylinders oscillating in a fluid

The results of an experimental investigation of the hydrodynamic forces acting on a circular cylinder oscillating horizontally in water at rest parallel to the free surface are presented. The coefficients of the hydrodynamic forces — the inertia force proportional to the acceleration and the viscous drag proportional to the square of the velocity -are determined. The force coefficients are shown to depend significantly on the dimensionless (divided by the cylinder diameter) amplitude of the oscillations on the interval of variation from 0.5 to 10. In the experiments the maximum values of the Reynolds numbers, calculated from the maximum velocity and the cylinder diameter, were 2.10³–8.10⁴.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 111–115, July–August, 1989.     

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.     

Inertia and drag of elliptic cylinders oscillating in a fluid

The results of an experimental investigation of the hydrodynamic forces acting on elliptic cylinders oscillating in water at rest are presented. The coefficients of the inertia force and the drag are determined as functions of the ratio of the amplitude of the oscillations to the length of the axis of the cylindrical section in a plane normal to the direction of oscillation. These forces are also shown to depend significantly on the cylinder thickness. deceased Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 112–117, January–February, 1998.     

Application of wake oscillators to two-dimensional vortex-induced vibrations of circular cylinders in oscillatory flows

A nonlinear time-domain simulation model for predicting two-dimensional vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a flexibly mounted circular cylinder in planar and oscillatory flow is presented. This model is based on the utilization of van der Pol wake oscillators, being unconventional since wake oscillators have typically been applied to steady flow VIV predictions. The time-varying relative flow–cylinder velocities and accelerations are accounted for in deriving the coupled hydrodynamic lift, drag and inertia forces leading to the cylinder cross-flow and in-line oscillations. The system fluid–structure interaction equations explicitly contain the time-dependent and hybrid trigonometric terms. Depending on the Keulegan–Carpenter number (KC) incorporating the flow maximum velocity and excitation frequency, the model calibration is performed, entailing a set of empirical coefficients and expressions as a function of KC and mass ratio. Parametric investigations in cases of varying KC, reduced flow velocity, cylinder-to-flow frequency ratio and mass ratio are carried out, capturing some qualitative features of oscillatory flow VIV and exploring the effects of system parameters on response prediction characteristics. The model dependence of hydrodynamic coefficients on the Reynolds number is studied. Discrepancies and limitations versus advantages of the present model with different feasible solution scenarios are illuminated to inform the implementation of wake oscillators as a computationally efficient prediction model for VIV in oscillatory flows.     

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.     

Flow characteristics around a circular cylinder subjected to vortex-induced vibration near a plane boundary

Although vortex-induced vibration (VIV) has been extensively studied, much of existing literature deals with uniform flow in the absence of a boundary. The VIV flow field of a structure close to a boundary generally remains unexplored, but it can have important engineering implications, such as pipeline scour if the boundary is an erodible seabed. In this paper, laboratory experiments are performed to investigate the flow characteristics of an elastically mounted circular cylinder undergoing VIV, and a rigid plane boundary is considered to simplify the problem. The initial gap-to-diameter ratio is fixed at 0.8, and six different reduced velocities are considered. The velocity field is measured using a high resolution particle image velocimetry (PIV) system, which has several advantages over traditional PIV systems, including high sampling rate and the ability to mitigate scatter of laser light near the boundary, allowing accurate measurements at the viscous sublayer. This paper presents the vibration amplitude and oscillation frequency for different V_r; in addition, the mean velocity field, turbulence characteristics, vortex behavior, gap flow velocity, and normal/shear stresses on the boundary were measured/calculated, leading to new insights on the flow field behavior.     

Interference of vortex-induced vibration and transverse galloping for a rectangular cylinder

The phenomenon of interference between vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and galloping in the transverse degree of freedom was studied in the wind tunnel in the case of a spring-mounted slender rectangular cylinder with a side ratio of 1.5 having the short side perpendicular to the flow. The tests were carried out in a wide Scruton number range, starting from low values and increasing it in small steps by using eddy-current viscous dampers. This study helped understanding the dynamics of the interaction between the two excitation mechanisms and clearly highlighted the transition through four regimes of VIV-galloping interference. It was found that a high value of the mass-damping parameter is required to decouple the ranges of excitation of vortex-induced vibration and galloping completely, and for the quasi-steady theory to predict the galloping critical wind speed correctly. This conclusion is also relevant from the engineering point of view, as it means that structures and structural elements with ordinary mass-damping properties can exhibit sustained vibrations in flow speed ranges where no excitation is predicted by classical theories of vortex-induced vibration and galloping. Although most of the experimental tests were conducted in smooth flow at zero angle of attack, the paper also discusses the sensitivity of the results to a small variation of the mean flow incidence and to the presence of a low-intensity free-stream turbulence.     

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 around three rectangular cylinders arranged in connected and separated Y-shape

Characteristics of cross flow around three rectangular cylinders with two aspect ratios of breadth to width arranged in connected and separated Y-shape at various angles of incident flow were studied by means of force measurement in a wind tunnel. Flow visualizations with smoke-wire technique for typical cases were also given. Different types of flow patterns were formed for individual models at different angles of incident flow. From the results of fluctuating velocity measurement in the wake, features of vibration were determined. It shows that as the wind blows along the lines of one limb or rectangular cylinder of the model, oscillation is weak, whereas when the wind blows along the bisector lines of two limbs or cylinders, strong vibration is observed. It is associated with the regular vortex shedding.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10172008)The English text was polished by Keren Wang     

Water wave trapping in a long array of bottomless circular cylinders

This study tries to identify wave trapping situations by engaging and properly combining two well established phenomena: (i) the trapped modes induced by arrays of cylinders and (ii) the pumping trapped modes which are known to occur in moonpools. To this end, the fundamental hydrodynamic boundary value problem for arrays of bottomless cylinders was solved using standard domain decomposition. The method employed expansions of the solutions for the velocity potentials in polar harmonics combined with the eigenfunction expansions technique. The solution sought for the velocity potentials is achieved using the “direct” method of approach which accordingly requires the employment of a sophisticated matrix manipulation process.The elaboration of the concerned concept was motivated by three basic tasks: (i) to identify whether arrays of truncated and bottomless cylinders indeed preserve the occurrence of Neumann, Dirichlet and near trapped modes, extensively investigated for bottom-seated cylinders; (ii) to examine whether the expected pumping modes in moonpools modify the characteristics of the hydrodynamic resonance regimes (trapped modes) in the open liquid space between the cylinders and vice versa and (iii) to explore the possibility to suggest relevant configurations as parts of integrated mechanisms for practical applications, focusing a fortiori to clusters of hydrodynamically interacting Oscillating Water Columns (OWCs).The method developed is generic and can be employed for arbitrary configurations of multi-body arrays accommodating bottomless cylinders with uneven geometrical characteristics. Trapped modes are identified numerically as peaks in loading and this fact has been explicitly demonstrated in rows of cylinders. Therefore, the numerical results shown and discussed in the present are based on a specific in-line array that has been investigated in the past for bottom-seated cylinders. The investigated subject, i.e. whether the combined wave trapping induced by the examined configuration could be conceived as an efficient water wave power extraction mechanism is approached and discussed through dedicated computations of the free-surface displacements in the moonpools.     

Flow structure of wake behind a rotationally oscillating circular cylinder

Flow around a circular cylinder oscillating rotationally with a relatively high forcing frequency has been investigated experimentally. The dominant parameters affecting this experiment are the Reynolds number (Re), oscillation amplitude (θ_A), and frequency ratio F_R=f_f/f_n, where f_f is the forcing frequency and f_n is the natural frequency of vortex shedding. Experiments were carried out under conditions of Re=4.14×10³, 0°θ_A60° and 0.0F_R2.0. Rotational oscillation of the cylinder significantly modified the flow structure in the near-wake. Depending on the frequency ratio F_R, the cylinder wake showed five different flow regimes, each with a distinct wake structure. The vortex formation length and the vortex shedding frequency were greatly changed before and after the lock-on regime where vortices shed at the same frequency as the forcing frequency. The lock-on phenomenon always occurred at F_R=1.0 and the frequency range of the lock-on regime expanded with increasing oscillation amplitude θ_A. In addition, the drag coefficient was reduced when the frequency ratio F_R was less than 1.0 (F_R<1.0) while fixing the oscillation amplitude at θ_A=30°. When the oscillation amplitude θ_A was used as a control parameter at a fixed frequency ratio F_R=1.0 (lock-on regime), the drag reduction effect was observed at all oscillation amplitudes except for the case of θ_A=30°. This type of active flow control method can be used effectively in aerodynamic applications while optimizing the forcing parameters.     

Experimental study of vortex-induced vibrations of a cylinder near a rigid plane boundary in steady flow

In this study, the vortex-induced vibrations of a cylinder near a rigid plane boundary in a steady flow are studied experimentally. The phenomenon of vortex-induced vibrations of the cylinder near the rigid plane boundary is reproduced in the flume. The vortex shedding frequency and mode are also measured by the methods of hot film velocimeter and hydrogen bubbles. A parametric study is carded out to investigate the influences of reduced velocity, gap-to-diameter ratio, stability parameter and mass ratio on the amplitude and frequency responses of the cylinder. Experimental results indicate： （1） the Strouhal number （St） is around 0.2 for the stationary cylinder near a plane boundary in the sub-criti- cal flow regime; （2） with increasing gap-to-diameter ratio （eo/D）, the amplitude ratio （A/D） gets larger but frequency ratio （f/fn） has a slight variation for the case of larger values of eo/D（eo/D 〉 0.66 in this study）; （3） there is a clear difference of amplitude and frequency responses of the cylin- derbetween the larger gap-to-diameter ratios （e0/D 〉 0.66） and the smaller ones （e0/D 〈 0.3）; （4） the vibration of the cylinder is easier to occur and the range of vibration in terms of Vr number becomes more extensive with decrease of the stability parameter, but the frequency response is affected slightly by the stability parameter; （5） with decreasing mass ratio, the width of the lock-in ranges in terms of Vr and the frequency ratio （f/fn） become larger.     

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.