On Vortex Induced Vibration in Two-Degree-of-Freedoms of Flexible Cylinders

In this paper, an experimental study on the in-line and cross-flow vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of flexible cylinders is conducted. The relationship of two-degree-of-freedoms of vortex-induced vibration of flexible cylinders is also investigated. The influence of natural frequency of flexible cylinders on vortex shedding and VIV are studied through the experiment in this paper. Finally, A nonlinear model, with fluid-structure interaction, of two-degree-of-freedom VIV of flexible cylinders is proposed. It is shown that the ratio of the frequencies and amplitudes of in-line and cross flow VIV of the flexible cylinders changes with current velocity and Reynolds number. The natural frequency of flexible cylinder has great influence on the vortex-induced virbation due to the strong fluid-structure coupling effect. Under given current velocity, the natural frequency of flexible cylinder determines its forms of vibration (in circular or ‘8’ form). The ratio of the VIV frequencies is 1.0 beyond the lock in district and 2.0 within the lock in district respectively. And the ratio of the VIV amplitudes is 1.0 beyond the lock in district and 1/3 to 2/3 within the lock in district. The results from this paper indicates that in-line vibration should be considerated when calculating the vibration response and fatigue damage.Copyright © 2011 by ASME