Characteristics and suppression of flow-induced vibrations of two side-by-side circular cylinders

A free-vibration experiment was conducted to examine flow-induced vibration (FIV) characteristics of two identical circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangements at spacing ratio T* (=T/D)=0.1-3.2, covering all possible flow regimes, where T is the gap spacing between the cylinders and D is the cylinder diameter. Each of the cylinders was two-dimensional, spring mounted, and allowed to vibrate independently in the cross-flow direction. Furthermore, an attempt to suppress flow-induced vibrations was undertaken by attaching flexible sheets at the rear stagnation lines of the cylinders. Based on the vibration responses of the two cylinders, four vibration patterns I, II, III and IV are identified at 0.1 <= T* < 0.2, 0.2 <= T* <= 0.9, 0.9 < T* < 2.1 and 2.1 <= T* <= 3.2, respectively. Pattern I is characterized by the two cylinders vibrating inphase with the maximum amplitudes occurring at the same reduced velocity Ur=10.47 almost two times that (Ur=5.25) for an isolated cylinder. Pattern II features no vibration generated for either cylinder. Pattern III exemplifies the occurrence of the maximum vibration amplitude of a cylinder at a smaller Ur and that of the other cylinder at a higher Ur compared to its counterpart in an isolated cylinder. Pattern IV represents each cylinder response resembling an isolated cylinder response; the vibrations of the two cylinders are, however, coupled inphase or antiphase. Linking maximum vibration amplitudes to fluctuating lift forces acting on fixed cylinders reveals that fluid-structure interactions between two fixed cylinders and between two elastic cylinders are not the same, even though vibration is not significant As such, while two fixed cylinders generate narrow and wide wakes at 0.2 <= T* < 1.7, two elastic cylinders do the same for a longer range of T* (0.2 <= T* < 2.1). The flexible sheets effectively suppress FIV of the two cylinders in patterns III and IV, and reduce the vibration amplitude in pattern I. For the effectively controlled cases (patterns III and IV), the flexible sheet of each cylinder folds into a semicircle at the base, forming two free edges. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.