Numerical Simulation of Cross-Flow Vortex-Induced Vibration of Hexagonal Cylinders with Face and Corner Orientations at Low Reynolds Number

Abstract

Vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) of hexagonal cylinders at Reynolds number of 1000 and mass ratio of 2 are studied numerically. In the numerical model, the Navier–Stokes equations are solved using finite volume method, and the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is modelled using Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) Scheme. The numerical model accounts for the cross-flow vibration of the cylinders, and is validated against published experimental and numerical results. In order to account for different angles of attack, the hexagonal cylinders are studied in the corner and face orientations. The results are compared with the published results of circular and square cylinders. Current results show that within the studied range of reduced velocities (up to 20), unlike circular and square cylinders, no lock-in response is observed in the hexagonal cylinders. The maximum normalized VIV amplitudes of the hexagonal cylinders are 0.45, and are significantly lower than those of circular and square cylinders. Vortex shedding regimes of the corner-oriented hexagons are mostly irregular. However, in the face-oriented hexagons, the shedding modes are more similar to the typical P + S and 2P modes.