Active vibration control of tandem square cylinders for three different phenomena: Vortex-induced vibration, galloping, and wake-induced vibration

Abstract

When exposed to fluid flow, elastically supported multiple square cylinders may experience either one or a combination of vortex-induced vibration, galloping, and wake-induced vibration phenomena. Due to these high-amplitude instabilities, it is necessary to utilize vibration control devices. The present paper studies the suppression of flow-induced vibration (FIV) of tandem-arranged square-section cylinders, which can oscillate independently in the streamwise and transverse directions at low Reynolds numbers. The vibration reduction is achieved by directly applying opposing forces using an active FIV control system based on the intelligent proportional-integral-derivative controller. In the present study, the fluid flow equations are calculated through the finite volume technique, by which the aerodynamic forces are attained. Next, based on the computed excitation forces, the motion equations of cylinders are solved within a user-defined function code. The numerical results show that the controller successfully suppresses the vibrations of the front and rear cylinders by a maximum of 94% and 92% at Re = 80 and by 98% and 97% at Re = 100. At Re = 230 and 250, the controller successfully diminishes the oscillation of the front cylinder by a maximum of 79% and 80%, respectively. The significant intensity of the front cylinder's wake makes the active control system unable to capably affect the vibrations of the downstream cylinder at Re = 230 and 250.

Keywords

• Vortex-induced vibration
• Galloping
• Wake-induced vibration
• Tandem square cylinders
• Active control