The effects of free surface and end cell on flow around a finite circular cylinder with low aspect ratio

Vortex-induced motion is an oscillatory phenomenon which occurs to a floating body with low aspect ratio. The basic phenomenological study about the effects of free surface and end cell on flow around a finite fixed circular cylinder was investigated in this study using particle image velocimetry and hydrodynamic force measurement. It was found from the former experiment that the wake of the cylinder is influenced by the both end cell and free surface. Blowup and back flow are generated from the end cell, and their effects are suspended by free surface. The result of hydrodynamic force measurement showed the effect of Reynolds number, Froude number, and the aspect ratio of the floating body on the hydrodynamic force. Fluctuating components of hydrodynamic coefficients decrease for increasing Reynolds number, Froude number, and the aspect ratio. On the other hand, the mean drag coefficient increases as Froude number increases and decreases as the aspect ratio increases. The interpretation to these results was discussed in comparison with flow structures observed in the experiment. In addition, it was found that the effect of Reynolds number on the mean drag coefficient changes at different aspect ratios. A possible interpretation to this phenomenon was proposed.     

Numerical analysis of vortex-induced motion of two-dimensional circular cylinder by lattice Boltzmann method

Vortex-induced motion of two-dimensional circular cylinder was numerically analyzed by using the lattice Boltzmann method. Unlike conventional methods, in which the computational grids are fit to the solid body, the present method adopts rectangular grids and the movement of the solid body was treated by the boundary condition for the simplicity of computation. The hydrodynamic force acting on the cylinder was estimated by integrating the momentum of the fluid over the cylinder surface. The quantitative validation of the simulation results was confirmed for the fixed cylinder at Re = 500. When the cylinder is allowed to move only in the spanwise direction, the resonance between the vortex-shedding frequency and the natural frequency of damping force by spring was confirmed. When the natural frequency is larger than the vortex-shedding frequency, secondary mode appears which may be resulted from the nonlinear effect. Finally, the motion in the streamwise direction is considered as well as the spanwise direction and the characteristic of the cylinder motion in the horizontal direction was demonstrated in relation to the damping force by the mooring. Although the target of the present study is limited to two-dimensional and low Re, the applicability of the lattice Boltzmann method to vortex-induced motion was confirmed.