Numerical Study on the Influence of Mass and Stiffness Ratios on the Vortex Induced Motion of an Elastically Mounted Cylinder for Harnessing Power

Vidya Chandran, Sekar M., Sheeja Janardhanan and Varun Menon
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Vidya Chandran: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 600018, India
Sekar M.: Department of Mechanical Engineering, AAA College of Engineering and Technology, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu 600018, India
Sheeja Janardhanan: Department of Mechanical Engineering, SCMS School of Engineering and Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala 673307, India
Varun Menon: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SCMS School of Engineering and Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala 673307, India

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-23

Abstract: Harnessing the power of vortices shed in the wake of bluff bodies is indeed a boon to society in the face of fuel crisis. This fact serves as an impetus to develop a device called a hydro vortex power generator (HVPG), comprised of an elastically mounted cylinder that is free to oscillate in the cross-flow (CF) direction even in a low velocity flow field. The oscillatory motions in turn can be converted to useful power. This paper addresses the influence of system characteristics viz. stiffness ratio ( k* ) and mass ratio ( m* ) on the maximum response amplitude of the elastically mounted cylinder. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have been used here to solve a two way fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problem for predicting the trend of variation of the non-dimensional amplitude Y/D with reduced velocity U r through a series of simulations. Maximum amplitude motions have been attributed to the lowest value of m* with U r = 8. However, the maximum lift forces correspond to U r = 4, providing strong design inputs as well as indicating the best operating conditions. The numerical results have been compared with those of field tests in an irrigation canal and have shown reasonable agreement.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics (CFD); flow around cylinder; fluid structure interaction (FSI); hydrodynamic response; numerical methods; simulation and modeling; vortex induced vibration (VIV) ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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