Piezoelectric energy harvesting from flow-induced vibrations of a square cylinder at various angles of attack

Abstract

This study evaluates the performance of a piezoelectric energy harvester with a square cylinder bluff body at various angles of attack. The energy harvesting characteristics of the system under different angles of attack are obtained through wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics simulations. It is demonstrated that the square cylinder may exhibit galloping or vortex-induced vibrations depending on the angle of attack. The optimal angle of attack for energy harvesting is 10°. Under this angle of attack, the maximum output power of the energy harvester is 29.50% higher than that of the traditional harvester with a square cylinder at 0° angle of attack. The observations of this study recommend selecting the energy harvester with a square cylinder at 10° attack angle to provide the optimal power output.