Determination of Maximum Mechanical Energy Efficiency in Energy Galloping Systems

Abstract

Transverse galloping is a type of aeroelastic instability characterized by large amplitude, low frequency, normal to wind oscillations that appear in some elastic two-dimensional bluff bodies when subjected to a fluid flow, provided that the flow velocity exceeds a threshold critical value. Such an oscillatory motion is explained because of the energy transfer from the flow to the two-dimensional bluff body. The amount of energy that can be extracted depends on the cross section of the galloping prism. Assuming that the Glauert–Den Hartog quasi-static criterion for galloping instability is satisfied in a first approximation, the suitability of a given cross section for energy harvesting is evaluated by analyzing the lateral aerodynamic force coefficient, fitting a function with a power series in