Smoothed profile method and its applications in VIV

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a partitioned approach by coupling the smoothed profile method (SPM) and the Euler tension beam model in simulating a vortex-induced vibration of both rigid and flexible cylinders at various reduced velocities.

Design/methodology/approach

For the fluid part, SPM in the framework of the spectral element method is adopted to simulate the flow. The advantage of SPM lies in modelling multiple complex shapes as it uses a fixed computational mesh without conformation to the geometry of the particles. For the structure part, an elastic-mounted rigid cylinder is considered in two-dimensional (2D) simulations, while a flexible cylinder with a Euler tension beam model is used in three-dimensional simulations.

Findings

Firstly, in the flow past a freely vibrating cylinder, the maximum vibration responses of the cylinder are about 0.73D and 0.1D in the y and x directions, respectively, which occur at the point U_r = 5.75 and are much higher than U_r = 5 in 2D simulations. It is found that the numerical results from the SPM solver are very consistent with those from the NEKTAR-Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method (NEKTAR-ALE) solver or the NEKTAR-Fourier solver. Furthermore, the flow past the tandem cylinders is also investigated, where the upstream cylinder is static while the downstream one is free to vibrate. Specifically, the beating behaviour is captured from the vibration response of the freely vibrating cylinder under the reduced velocity of U_r = 6 with a gap distance of L = 3.5D.

Originality/value

The originality of the paper lies in coupling the SEM with the Euler beam model in simulating the vortex induced vibration (VIV) of flexible cylinders.

Citation

Xie, F., Pan, D., Zheng, Y. and Zou, J. (2017), "Smoothed profile method and its applications in VIV", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 1623-1635. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-12-2016-0503