Experimental Characterization of High-Amplitude Fluid–Structure Interaction of a Flexible Hydrofoil at High Reynolds Number

Abstract

A fluid–structure interaction (FSI) experiment was performed to study low-frequency (∼10 Hz), high-amplitude (±3.5% of the span) fin motion. This was achieved by placing an Inconel swept-fin at −9.6 deg angle-of-attack within the wake of a roughened cylinder. Speeds between 2.5 and 3.6 m/s produced cylinder diameter-based Reynolds numbers between 190,000 and 280,000, respectively. Detailed descriptions of the geometry, material/structural behavior, fluid properties, and initial conditions are provided to facilitate computational model development. Given the initial conditions, the resulting forced fin behavior was characterized with measurements of the mean and fluctuating velocity upstream of the fin (i.e., within the cylinder wake), fin tip/surface motion, and fin constraint forces/moments. This work provides a detailed experimental dataset of conditions mimicking a crashback event that is also a challenging FSI benchmark problem involving turbulent, vortex-induced structure motion. It has been used as a validation condition for FSI simulations, and it can be used to validate other FSI models as well as identifying strengths and weaknesses of various modeling approaches.