Low Mass Damping Vortex Induced Vibrations of a Single Cylinder at Moderate Reynolds Number

Abstract

The feasibility and accuracy of large eddy simulation is investigated for the case of threedimensional unsteady flows past an elastically mounted cylinder at moderate Reynolds number. Although these flow problems are unconfined, complex wake flow patterns may be observed depending on the elastic properties of the structure. An iterative procedure is used to solve the structural dynamic equation to be coupled with the Navier–Stokes system formulated in a pseudoEulerian way. A moving mesh method is involved to deform the computational domain according to the motion of the fluid structure interface. Numerical simulations of vortexinduced vibrations are performed for a freely vibrating cylinder at Reynolds number 3900 in the subcritical regime under two low massdamping conditions. A detailed physical analysis is provided for a wide range of reduced velocities, and the typical threebranch response of the amplitude behavior usually reported in the experiments is exhibited and reproduced by numerical simulation.