An experimental investigation of vortex-induced vibration of a rotating circular cylinder in the crossflow direction

Vortex-induced vibration of a flexibly-mounted circular cylinder free to oscillate in the crossflow direction with imposed rotation around its axis was studied experimentally. The rotation rate, α, defined as the ratio of the surface velocity and free stream velocity, was varied from 0 to 2.6 in small steps. The amplitudes and frequencies of oscillations as well as the flow forces were measured in a Reynolds number range of Re = 350 -1000. The maximum amplitude of oscillations was limited to values less than a diameter of the cylinder at high rotation rates. Also, the lock-in range became narrower at higher rotation rates and finally the oscillations ceased beyond α = 2.4. Vortex shedding pattern was found to be 2S (two single vortices shed per cycle of oscillations) for rotation rates up to α = 1.4 and transitioned toward an asymmetric P shedding (one pair of vortices shed in a cycle of oscillations) for rotation rates within the range of 1.4 ≤ α ≤ 1.8. Vortex shedding was found to persist up to higher rotation rates than those observed for a non-oscillating cylinder. The phase difference between the flow forces and displacement of the cylinder in the crossflow direction was influenced as the rotation rate was increased: At high reduced velocities, the phase difference decreased from 180° for a non-rotating cylinder to values close to 90° for a rotating cylinder at large rotation rates. Different shedding patterns resulted in flow forces with different frequencies. In the crossflow direction, the dominant frequency of flow forces was found to be close to the system’s natural frequency for all the rotation rates tested with either 2S or P vortex shedding pattern. In the inline direction, however, the change from 2S to P shedding at high rotation rates resulted in a shift of the ratio of the dominant frequency of the inline flow forces to the natural frequency of the system from 2:1 to 1:1.