Enhancing stability and performance of flexible membrane structures in wake flows through jet flow control

Abstract

This study investigates jet flow control on flexible membrane structures placed in the wake of a stationary cylinder to enhance performance and stability. Flexible membranes, found in both nature and engineering, often face nonlinear disturbances where passive deformation is insufficient. Inspired by adaptive fish fins, we explore active flow control strategies using a high-fidelity fluid–structure interaction solver to simulate the dynamics of a flexible membrane downstream of a cylinder. High-momentum jet flows with different momentum coefficients are applied at membrane leading edge to modulate the boundary layer flow features. Numerical simulation results reveal that jet flow control can weaken the wake interference effect on the membrane dynamics, resulting in lift improvement and flow-induced vibration suppression. The flow separation within the boundary layer is suppressed by high-momentum jet flows, thereby enhancing lift performance and stability. The reason of the flow-induced vibration suppression is attributed to the redistribution of the vibration energy in high-order structure modes excited by jet flows. Our results demonstrate that jet control has great potential for optimizing the performance and stability of flexible membrane structures in complex flow environments, providing valuable insights into the design of next-generation intelligent underwater vehicles and ships with flexible membrane propulsion systems.