Aeroelastic metastructure for simultaneously suppressing wind-induced vibration and energy harvesting under wind flows and base excitations

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes an innovative dual-functional aeroelastic metastructure that effectively suppresses wind-induced structural vibrations under either pure aerodynamic galloping or concurrent galloping and base excitations, while simultaneously harnessing the vibratory energy to potentially allow for self-powered onboard low-power sensing applications. Two configurations are theoretically and experimentally analysed and compared, one consisting of simply regular locally resonating masses subjected to no external forces, while the other comprising locally resonating bluff bodies which experience additional aerodynamic galloping forces. Numerical investigation is conducted based on an established aero-electro-mechanically coupled model. Wind tunnel wind tunnel and base vibration experiments are carried out using a fabricated aeroelastic metastructure prototype to characterize the energy transfer mechanisms and validate the numerical results. The mutual effects of key system parameters, including the frequency ratio, mass ratio, load resistance and electromechanical coupling strength, on the dual-functional capabilities are examined, providing a comprehensive design guideline for efficiently enhancing the energy transfer and conversion. Experimentally, the galloping displacement of the primary structure is attenuated by 78% with a measured power output of 2.63 mW from a single auxiliary oscillator at a wind speed of 8 m s−1. This research opens new possibilities for designing novel metastructures in practical scenarios where both wind-induced vibration suppression and energy harvesting are crucial.