Fluid structural interaction of a flexible plate submerged in the wake of a circular cylinder

Abstract

The wake-induced vibration of a flexible thin plate is investigated in order to provide insight into the dynamic response of the plate due to wake vortices. The flexible plate is influenced by vortices with varying longitudinal spacing ratios in the wake of the cylinder, which is defined as the distance between the centre of the upstream cylinder and the tip edge of the plate (x* = x/D = 3.0–5.5). The flow is laminar and the Reynolds number is set at 200. The upstream circular cylinder is stationary and the downstream thin flexible plate is set as a cantilever beam in the wake of circular cylinder. The plate, therefore, is under the effects of upstream vortices and can be deflected due to the dynamic pressure of the flow. According to the numerical results, while both longitudinal (x*) and lateral (y*) distances can influence the dynamic reaction of the plate owing to approaching vortices, it is indicated that the effect of the lateral distance is greater than that of the longitudinal distance. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the highest negative magnitude of pressure coefficient occurs with a 7% variation between y* = 0.0 and y* = 0.75.