Vibration of two elastically mounted cylinders of different diameters in oscillatory flow

Abstract

Vibration of two elastically mounted cylinders in an oscillatory flow at a Keulegan-Carpenter number of 10 is simulated numerically. The two cylinders are rigidly connected with each other and are allowed to vibrate in the cross-flow direction only. The aim of this paper is to identify the effects of the orientation of the cylinders and the gap between the cylinders on the vibration. The two-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved to predict the flow and the cylinder vibration is predicted using the equation of motion. When the two cylinders are in a tandem arrangement, a combined single pair flow regime and attached pair flow regime are observed as reduced velocity exceeds 10 and this combined regime and the single pair regime occurs intermittently. Periodic vibration is found when the two cylinders are in a staggered arrangement with a 45° flow attack angle. When the two cylinders are in a side-by-side arrangement, a new single vortex regime is observed. This single vortex remains attached to the cylinder surface and rotates around the cylinder. The intermittent switch between this single vortex regime and the single pair regime are observed.