The vortex-induced forces on a multi-column platform in current at high Reynolds numbers

Abstract

The unsteady vortex-induced forces on a multi-column platform in current from subcritical up to supercritical Reynolds numbers have been investigated using three-dimensional numerical simulations. Two different current incidences, 0[Formula: see text] and 45[Formula: see text], are considered. The results show that for 0[Formula: see text] current incidence, the mean streamwise force coefficients [Formula: see text] increase with the rise of [Formula: see text] when [Formula: see text], while they grow slightly when [Formula: see text]. For 45[Formula: see text] current incidence, a decrease of streamwise force with increasing [Formula: see text] is observed. Similar to a single cylinder, the fluctuating transverse force coefficients [Formula: see text] of the multi-column platform drop at [Formula: see text] for 0[Formula: see text] and 45[Formula: see text] current incidences. In addition, it is found that for 0[Formula: see text] current incidence, the [Formula: see text] values of the downstream columns are much larger than those of the upstream columns, while for 45[Formula: see text] current incidence, the [Formula: see text] values of each column are similar. Furthermore, the results of correlations between the forces on each column and total forces indicates that for 0[Formula: see text] current incidence, the fluctuating transverse forces on the downstream columns are mainly responsible for the total fluctuating transverse force on the multi-column platform.