A fluid–structure interaction simulation on the wake-induced vibration of tandem cylinders with pivoted rotational motion

Abstract

This paper predicts the wake-induced vibration of tandem cylinders with pivoted rotational or translational motion using the fluid–structure interaction technique. Large eddy simulation using a dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid-scale model is applied for the turbulent flow. Structural computation is applied to obtain the displacement of the downstream cylinder in the cross-flow direction. Conditions such as damping ratio, natural frequency, and mass ratio of pivoted rotational motion are the same as those of translational motion. The computational conditions are Re=3790, 8470 and 15 160, corresponding to U*=5.0, 11.2 and 20.0, respectively. The unsteady characteristics of lift, drag, and cross-flow motion of tandem cylinders are investigated. Distributions of pressure, λ2 criterion, vorticity, and streakline are also investigated. Finally, the energy harvesting capability of the pendulum system is compared with the translation system.