2D analysis of VIV enhancement via dual isosceles triangular bluff bodies \in tandem arrangement for electrical generation

Abstract

The human race is inspired by the rapid progress of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) energy harvesting as a renewable energy source. The geometrical shapes such as cylinder, square, and triangle bluff bodies were studied regarding vortex shedding frequency, vorticity, and pressure difference to determine the best bluff body for piezoelectric film. This work aims to analyze the VIV of two isosceles triangular bluff bodies in a tandem arrangement. In the previous study, triangular shapes gave the best results among the other shapes. Two isosceles triangle cylinders enhanced a 2-dimensional (2D) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation analysis. The dimensions of the triangle bluff body are fixed at 100 mm, and it is tested for Reynold numbers (Re) of 0.3×103, 2×103, 5×103, and 1×104. Five analyses are carried out; velocity, vorticity, pressure distribution, spectral and vortex shedding frequency. Results showed that vortex shedding frequency for the upstream and downstream isosceles triangular cylinders was the same as the alignment angle, which was 0 degrees. The pressure difference measured after the cylinder showed a high increment at a high Re number. However, vorticity strength at the downstream triangular cylinder decreased with the increase of the Re. The results are essential to the applications in fluid energy harvesting technology.