Lock-in of the vortex-induced vibrations of a long tensioned beam in shear flow

The occurrence of lock-in, defined as the local synchronization between the vortex shedding frequency and the cross-flow structural vibration frequency, is investigated in the case of a tensioned beam of length to diameter ratio 200, free to move in both the in-line and cross-flow directions, and immersed in a linear shear current. Direct numerical simulation is employed at three Reynolds numbers, from 110 to 1100, so as to include the transition to turbulence in the wake. The Reynolds number influences the response amplitudes, but in all cases we observed similar fluid-structure interaction mechanisms, resulting in high-wavenumber vortex-induced vibrations consisting of a mixture of standing and traveling wave patterns. Lock-in occurs in the high oncoming velocity region, over at least 30% of the cylinder length. In the case of multi-frequency response, at any given spanwise location lock-in is principally established at one of the excited vibration frequencies, usually the locally predominant one. The spanwise patterns of the force and added mass coefficients exhibit different behaviors within the lock-in versus the non-lock-in region. The spanwise zones where the flow provides energy to excite the structural vibrations are located mainly within the lock-in region, while the flow damps the structural vibrations in the non-lock-in region

Distributed lock-in drives broadband vortex-induced vibrations of a long flexible cylinder in shear flow

A slender flexible body immersed in sheared cross-flow may exhibit vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs) involving a wide range of excited frequencies and structural wavenumbers. The mechanisms of broadband VIVs of a cylindrical tensioned beam of length-to-diameter aspect ratio 200 placed in shear flow, with an exponentially varying profile along the span, are investigated by means of direct numerical simulation. The Reynolds number is equal to 330 based on the maximum velocity, for comparison with previous work on narrowband vibrations in linear shear flow. The flow is found to excite the structure at a number of different locations under a condition of wake–body synchronization, or lock-in. Broadband responses are associated with a distributed occurrence of the lock-in condition along the span, as opposed to the localized lock-in regions limited to the high inflow velocity zone, reported for narrowband vibrations in sheared current. Despite the instantaneously multi-frequency nature of broadband responses, the lock-in phenomenon remains a locally mono-frequency event, since the vortex formation is generally synchronized with a single vibration frequency at a given location. The spanwise distribution of the excitation zones induces travelling structural waves moving in both directions; this contrasts with the narrowband case where the direction of propagation toward decreasing inflow velocity is preferred. A generalization of the mechanism of phase-locking between the in-line and cross-flow responses is proposed for broadband VIVs under the lock-in condition. A spanwise drift of the in-line/cross-flow phase difference is identified for the high-wavenumber vibration components; this drift is related to the strong travelling wave character of the corresponding structural waves

Multi-frequency vortex-induced vibrations of a long tensioned beam in linear and exponential shear flows

The multi-frequency vortex-induced vibrations of a cylindrical tensioned beam of aspect ratio 200, free to move in the in-line and cross-flow directions within first a linearly and then an exponentially sheared current are investigated by means of direct numerical simulation, at a Reynolds number equal to 330. The shape of the inflow profile impacts the spectral content of the mixed standing traveling wave structural responses: narrowband vibrations are excited within the lock-in area, which is limited to a single region lying in the high flow velocity zone, for the linear shear case; in contrast, the lock-in condition occurs at several spanwise locations in the exponential shear case, resulting in broadband responses, containing a wide range of excited frequencies and spatial wavenumbers. The broadband in-line and cross-flow vibrations occurring for the exponential shear current have a phase difference that lies within a specific range along the entire span; this differs from the phase drift noted for narrowband responses in linear shear flow. Lower vibration amplitudes, time-averaged and fluctuating in-line force coefficients are observed for the exponential shear current. The cross-flow force coefficient has comparable magnitude for both inflow profiles along the span, except in zones where the broadband vibrations are under the lock-in condition but not the narrowband ones. As in the narrowband case, the fluid forces associated with the broadband responses are dominated by high frequencies related to high-wavenumber vibration components. Considerable variability of the effective added mass coefficients along the span is noted in both cases

Vortex-induced vibrations of a flexible cylinder at large inclination angle

The free vibrations of a flexible circular cylinder inclined at 80 degrees within a uniform current are investigated by means of direct numerical simulation, at Reynolds number 500 based on the body diameter and inflow velocity. In spite of the large inclination angle, the cylinder exhibits regular in-line and crossflow vibrations excited by the flow through the lock-in mechanism, i.e. synchronization of body motion and vortex formation. A profound reconfiguration of the wake is observed compared with the stationary body case. The vortex-induced vibrations are found to occur under parallel, but also oblique vortex shedding where the spanwise wavenumbers of the wake and structural response coincide. The shedding angle and frequency increase with the spanwise wavenumber. The cylinder vibrations and fluid forces present a persistent spanwise asymmetry which relates to the asymmetry of the local current relative to the body axis, owing to its in-line bending. In particular, the asymmetrical trend of flow–body energy transfer results in a monotonic orientation of the structural waves. Clockwise and counter-clockwise figure eight orbits of the body alternate along the span, but the latter are found to be more favourable to structure excitation. Additional simulations at normal incidence highlight a dramatic deviation from the independence principle, which states that the system behaviour is essentially driven by the normal component of the inflow velocity

Real Time Estimation of Ship Motions Using Kalman Filtering Techniques

The estimation of the heave, pitch, roll, sway, and yaw motions of a DD-963 destroyer is studied, using Kalman filtering techniques, for application in VTOL aircraft landing. The governing equations are obtained from hydrodynamic considerations in the form of Linear differential equations with frequency dependent coefficients. In addition, nonminimum phase characteristics are obtained due to the spatial integration of the water wave forces. The resulting transfer matrix function is irrational and nonminimum phase. The conditions for a finite-dimensional approximation are considered and the impact of the various parameters is assessed. A detailed numerical application for a DD-963 destroyer is presented and simulations of the estimations obtained from Kalman filters are discussed

A Novel Degree of Freedom in Flapping Wings Shows Promise for a Dual Aerial/Aquatic Vehicle Propulsor

Ocean sampling for highly temporal phenomena, such as harmful algal blooms, necessitates a vehicle capable of fast aerial travel interspersed with an aquatic means of acquiring in-situ measurements. Vehicle platforms with this capability have yet to be widely adopted by the oceanographic community. Several animal examples successfully make this aerial/aquatic transition using a flapping foil actuator, offering an existence proof for a viable vehicle design. We discuss a preliminary realization of a flapping wing actuation system for use in both air and water. The wing employs an active in-line motion degree of freedom to generate the large force envelope necessary for propulsion in both fluid media.Comment: Accepted version of paper for ICRA 2015, 8 pages, 9 figures; Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 5830 - 5837, Seattle WA, 201