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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Vortex Induced Vibration Test of the WITT Device in a Tidal Channel

Fluid flow around a bluff body causes vibrations as the boundary layer separates and vortices are shed. This phenomenon, called vortex induced vibration (VIV), is minimized in most engineering applications, but can be utilized for power generation. Vortex induced vibration has potential for energy harvesting in low velocity water flows and therefore could open many locations to marine renewable energy. Here we present the results of a field test of a device that utilizes VIV to harvest energy from flow in a tidal channel. The pendulum-type device has been designed to generate electricity from motion around and along three axes. It is named the Whatever Input to Torsion Transfer (WITT) energy device and in this test is mounted on top of a pipe. During the field test, the WITT generated electricity at flow velocities from 0.27 to 2.82 m/s. The field test has proven that the WITT can utilize VIV to produce electricity and charge a battery in tidal flows with velocities as low as 0.27 m/s. In the future, the electricity could be used to charge a battery for ocean observation instruments such as temperature and nitrate sensors. In-situ power generation by the WITT would extend deployment times and increase the frequency of measurements.

Branch, Ruth A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Efficacy of vibro-impact energy harvesting absorbers on controlling dynamical systems under vortex-induced vibrations and base excitation

Here this study investigates improving the efficacy of an energy harvesting absorber's ability to control a structure under vortex-induced vibrations, base excitation, and a combination of the two by including mechanical amplitude stoppers. The nonlinear reduced-order model is developed through modifying trilinear spring models to represent the impact forces, a modified van der Pol oscillator to represent the forcing due to the vortex-induced vibrations and using the Euler-Lagrange principle to express the equations of motion. It is seen that a soft stopper stiffness and a 5mm gap performs the most effectively of increasing the power generated from the absorber while still greatly reducing the primary structure's amplitude. By changing the stopper's location towards the middle of the energy harvesting absorber, the large effects of the impact forces are reduced and improves the efficacy of medium and hard stopper stiffnesses to generate near the amount of power the soft stopper does, while greatly improving the control of the primary structure. When the system is under combined loadings, the large oscillations of the synchronization region cause the effective configuration to be that of a 27.5 mm gap with soft stiffnesses. The results shows that medium stiffness stoppers with small gaps generate large aperiodic regions due to the high impact force. When the oscillations are close to the stoppers, the beating phenomenon is observed and is not overpowered by the vibro-impact force.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2026

Time-Domain Vortex Induced Vibration Modeling of Reference Dynamic Power Cable for the Gulf of Maine

Vortex-induced vibration (VIV) is a phenomenon known to decrease the fatigue life of dynamic power cables used in floating offshore wind systems through increased bending loading cycles. A variety of modeling solutions have been proposed to study this, but none enable fully-coupled simulations leveraging open-source tools. To address this, a time-domain VIV model has been successfully implemented into the open-source mooring dynamics model MoorDyn. The semi-empirical VIV model describes a lift force acting on segments of a flexible cylinder, making it well suited for implementation into MoorDyn. The new capability successfully predicted the frequencies and magnitudes of strain in both steady and oscillating flows when compared to the original validation results and matched peak spectral response when compared to experimental results, verifying successful implementation. MoorDyn with VIV was then leveraged to simulate a 15 MW floating turbine with a dynamic power cable in the Gulf of Maine using OpenFAST for six return periods of combined wind, wave, and current conditions. Increased curvature and tension fluctuations in higher flow speeds were observed when simulating VIV. Maximum tensions and curvatures also increased, with the 500 year conditions violating the curvature factor of safety of 2.0. These results highlight the importance of considering VIV when designing dynamic power cables for the Gulf of Maine, and indicate that cost effective mitigation strategies should be explored for the area. They also demonstrate the utility of this new modeling capability, which provides the first open-source tool for fully coupled time-domain floating offshore wind simulations with dynamic power cable VIV.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Numerical simulation of vortex-induced vibration response of a single IEA 10-MW wind turbine blade

Three-dimensional simulation of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a single International Energy Agency (IEA) 10-MW reference wind turbine blade with a length of 97.325 m is performed using the ExaWind stack, an open-source suite of codes. This study aims to illustrate the spanwise VIV response characteristics and cross-validate the results with an existing commercial framework. Five near-body meshes and three time steps are selected for the convergence study. To improve computational efficiency, several VIV triggering methods are also compared to shorten the VIV development period. The ExaWind-based VIV simulation strategy for a single IEA 10-MW blade is determined. First, the modal shape is validated against published results. Then, spanwise VIV responses of four blade configurations under a fixed and varied incoming flow velocity are analyzed. Results show that the VIV response is dominated by the first edgewise (second overall) mode. Little first-mode contributions appear near the second-mode node, producing a pi phase jump, and a higher harmonics response occurs near the blade root. Rotational degrees of freedom are minor compared with translational motion. The response versus reduced velocity is analyzed, showing a two-branch behavior similar to that of VIV for a bluff cylinder. Across all tested cases, the dominant frequency remains locked to the natural frequency of the second mode with no observed desynchronization. A mild deviation is observed for the case of 90-degree pitch and 310-degree azimuth rotation near a reduced velocity of 6, which will be examined with additional cases in future work. These findings indicate that severe VIV responses can arise under specific configurations and flow conditions, thereby increasing the potential for VIV fatigue damage and requiring greater attention during operation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

A fast multi-fidelity method with uncertainty quantification for complex data correlations: Application to vortex-induced vibrations of marine risers

Here we develop a fast multi-fidelity modeling method for very complex correlations between high- and low-fidelity data by working in modal space to extract the proper correlation function. We apply this method to infer the amplitude of motion of a flexible marine riser in cross-flow, subject to vortex-induced vibrations (VIV). VIV are driven by an absolute instability in the flow, which imposes a frequency (Strouhal) law that requires a matching with the impedance of the structure; this matching is easily achieved because of the rapid parametric variation of the added mass force. As a result, the wavenumber of the riser spatial response is within narrow bands of uncertainty. Hence, an error in wavenumber prediction can cause significant phase-related errors in the shape of the amplitude of response along the riser, rendering correlation between low- and high-fidelity data very complex. Working in modal space as outlined herein, dense data from low-fidelity data, provided by the semi-empirical computer code VIVA, can correlate in modal space with few high-fidelity data, obtained from experiments or fully-resolved CFD simulations, to correct both phase and amplitude and provide predictions that agree very well overall with the correct shape of the amplitude response. We also quantify the uncertainty in the prediction using Bayesian modeling and exploit this uncertainty to formulate an active learning strategy for the best possible location of the sensors providing the high fidelity measurements.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1990

Reduction of vortex-induced vibration in vane geometries

Computations using a time-accurate, compressible Navier-Stokes flow model were conducted to analyze both unsteady laminar and turbulent flows over two curved configurations of vanes which were shaped to treat a 4.0 kHz vibration problem which has occurred in several SSMEs. This problem involves vortex shedding from vanes which causes excessive vane vibration and cracking. The original vane configuration exhibited strong flow-induced vibrations at a Strouhal number near 0.19 for a the first bending mode excitation. Scalloping of the leading edge raised the frequency of the vane's first torsional mode, which in turn increased the onset flow velocity at lock-in. Beveling the vane's trailing edge eliminated vortex shedding at the trailing edge, which decoupled the flow oscillation from the vibrating wave. A modified vane configuration with a beveled trailing edge at a 30 deg angle was also studied.

Liu, B. L.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Adaptive harnessing damping in hydrokinetic energy conversion by two rough tandem-cylinders using flow-induced vibrations

Alternating lift technology (ALT) harnesses hydrokinetic energy from currents and tides and is different from conventional steady lift technologies (turbines). ALT is still under development with an important research issue being the mitigation of wake effect on downstream cylinders in Flow Induced Oscillations (FIO) of multi-cylinder Current Energy Converters (CEC). Rather than adjust the configuration/parameters of the converter, a more direct and effective way is to actively adjust the harnessed power. In this paper, a hydrokinetic energy converter using FIO of two cylinders in tandem in one-degree-of-freedom oscillators, with nonlinear adaptive damping and linear spring stiffness, is tested experimentally. FIO include Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV), galloping, and their coexistence. Introducing adaptive damping into the tandem cylinders overcomes the shielding effect, which previous research on two tandem cylinders has shown to reduce power output by the downstream cylinder. Shielding along with fixed damping result either in ceasing motion due to excessive damping, or in low harnessed energy due to insufficient damping. In this experimental study, damping-to-velocity rate, linear spring-stiffness, cylinder spacing, and flow-velocity are the parameters with Reynolds number 30,000 ≤ Re ≤ 120,000. Comparison to linear-oscillators in FIO shows that this nonlinear converter, with velocity-proportional damping coefficient, is more effective over the entire FIO range but especially in galloping, where both flow and cylinder speeds are higher. Experimental results for energy harvesting, efficiency and instantaneous energy of the converter are presented and discussed supported by amplitude and frequency response data. Here the results show that the nonlinear, adaptive, velocity-proportional damping coefficient is an effective way to increase the overall harnessed power and the power of downstream cylinder. The harnessed power in the VIV to galloping transition increases by up to 94%. The most significant improvement is in the galloping region, where the increase in harnessed power and efficiency is around 33%.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

VorLap

SAND2025-10210O VorLap is a vortex-induced vibration overlap prediction tool for static structures, such as parked wind turbines and marine turbines encountering fluid flow (water or air movement around them) that may induce vortex-induced vibration. This tool uses precomputed frequency domain data for specific cross-sectional shapes or a generalized shedding model, along with geometric data and structural natural frequency data, to identify areas and conditions where vortex-induced vibration may occur. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Moore, Kevin [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Liver↗
NASA NTRS2018

Characterization and Analysis of Phoca Vitulina, Zalophus Californianus and Mirounga Angustirostris Vibrissae

Vibrissae of Phoca Vitulina (harbor seal) and Mirounga Angustirostris (elephant seal) possess undulations along their length. Harbor seal vibrissae have shown potential to reduce vortex induced vibrations and reduce drag compared to cylinders and ellipses. The exact geometry of the whiskers has not been well documented and the parameters that are responsible for the reduction in drag and vortex induced vibrations have not been characterized. Samples of six harbor seal vibrissae, six elephant seal vibrissae and six California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) vibrissae were collected from the Marine Mammal Center in California. The objectives of this study were to (1) Compare measurement techniques for digitizing and extracting parameters of the seal whiskers for the PeTaL (Periodic Table of Life) database. CT scanning, microscopy and 3D scanning techniques were compared. (2) Compare aerodynamic characteristics of a representative harbor seal whisker, elephant seal whisker, California sea lion whisker and ellipse at Re = 12000 and Re = 23000 based on major axis and free stream velocity. The data (in appendices) is available to compare CFD models or for further experimental validation, (3) Show close up images of whiskers and look for surface roughness effects. Variations in the seven parameters of the seal whisker were observed that may either be a feature of the vibration reduction mechanism or a result of natural variation. It is hypothesized that six parameters are sufficient to characterize seal whiskers based on analytic fitting. The drag coefficient of harbor seal whiskers examined in this study were found to be 25 percent lower than that of an ellipse with comparable major and minor axis lengths at Reynolds number of 12000. The dissipation length scale was found to be larger for seal whiskers. Potential applications of seal whisker morphology for aerospace are discussed. Roughness is not thought to play a factor in seal hydrodynamics.

Shyam, Vikram↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hydrokinetic Energy Conversion by Flow-Induced Oscillation of Two Tandem Cylinders of Different Stiffness

Abstract The vortex-induced vibration for aquatic clean energy (VIVACE) converter harnesses hydrokinetic energy by enhancing flow-induced oscillations (FIOs) of elastically supported rigid cylinders in a river, tide, or ocean current. The harnessing power depends on the intensity of the oscillation, which is a consequence of the flow–structure interaction. The inflow condition for the downstream (second) cylinder is slowed down and perturbed by the upstream (first) cylinder, due to the shielding effect. Therefore, the optimal structural parameters, i.e., stiffness and damping ratio, for the second cylinder may be different from the first cylinder, in terms of energy harnessing. To improve the performance of the VIVACE converter, a series of experiments are conducted in a recirculating water channel, with various stiffness combinations of two cylinders in tandem. Results show that the stiffness of the second cylinder, K2, does not affect the energy harnessing power in vortex-induced vibration (VIV) occurring at low speeds, because the oscillation of the downstream cylinder in this velocity range is completely dominated by the wake of the upstream cylinder. K2 has a great influence on the harnessing power at higher velocities in the transition region from VIV to galloping and in galloping. Changing K2 onsets and enhances galloping at lower flow velocity and harnesses up to 110% more energy than the case of K1 = K2.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hydrokinetic Power Conversion Using Vortex-Induced Oscillation with Cubic Restoring Force

A cubic-spring restoring function with high-deformation stiffening is introduced to passively improve the harnessed marine hydrokinetic power by using flow-induced oscillations/vibrations (FIO/V) of a cylinder. In these FIO/V experiments, a smooth, rigid, single-cylinder on elastic end-supports is tested at Reynolds numbers ranging from 24,000 < Re < 120,000. The parameters of the tested current energy converter (CEC) are cubic stiffness and linear damping. Using the second generation of digital virtual spring-damping (Vck) controller developed by the Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory (MRELab), the cubic modeling of the oscillator stiffness is tested. Experimental results show the influence of the parameter variation on the amplitude, frequency, energy conversion, energy efficiency, and power of the converter. All experiments are conducted in the low turbulence-free surface water (LTFSW) channel of the MRELab of the University of Michigan. The main conclusions are: (1) The nonlinearity in the cubic oscillator is an effective way to extend the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) upper branch, which results in higher harnessing power and efficiency compared to the linear stiffness cylinder converter. (2) Compared to the linear converter, the overall power increase is substantial. The nonlinear power optimum, occurring at the end of the VIV upper branch, is 63% higher than its linear counterpart. (3) The cubic stiffness converter with low harnessing damping achieves consistently good performance in all the VIV regions because of the hardening restoring force, especially at higher flow velocity.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2015

Application of Pinniped Vibrissae to Aeropropulsion

Vibrissae of Phoca Vitulina (Harbor Seal) and Mirounga Angustirostris (Elephant Seal) possessundulations along their length. Harbor Seal Vibrissae were shown to reduce vortex induced vibrations and reduce dragcompared to appropriately scaled cylinders and ellipses. Samples of Harbor Seal vibrissae, Elephant Seal vibrissae andCalifornia Sea Lion vibrissae were collected from the Marine Mammal Center in California. CT scanning, microscopy and3D scanning techniques were utilized to characterize the whiskers. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of thewhiskers were carried out to compare them to an ellipse and a cylinder. Leading edge parameters from the whiskerswere used to create a 3D profile based on a modern power turbine blade. The NASA SW-2 facility was used to performwind tunnel cascade testing on the 'Seal Blades'. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations were used to studyincidence angles from -37 to +10 degrees on the aerodynamic performance of the Seal Blade. The tests and simulationswere conducted at a Reynolds number of 100,000. The Seal Blades showed consistent performance improvements overthe baseline configuration. It was determined that a fuel burn reduction of approximately 5 could be achieved for a fixedwing aircraft. Noise reduction potential is also explored

vortex induced vibration↗
NASA NTRS2015

Application of Pinniped Vibrissae to Aeropropulsion

Vibrissae of Phoca Vitulina (Harbor Seal) and Mirounga Angustirostris (Elephant Seal) possess undulations along their length. Harbor Seal Vibrissae were shown to reduce vortex induced vibrations and reduce drag compared to appropriately scaled cylinders and ellipses. Samples of Harbor Seal vibrissae, Elephant Seal vibrissae and California Sea Lion vibrissae were collected from the Marine Mammal Center in California. CT scanning, microscopy and 3D scanning techniques were utilized to characterize the whiskers. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of the whiskers were carried out to compare them to an ellipse and a cylinder. Leading edge parameters from the whiskers were used to create a 3D profile based on a modern power turbine blade. The NASA SW-2 facility was used to perform wind tunnel cascade testing on the 'Seal Blades'. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations were used to study incidence angles from -37 to +10 degrees on the aerodynamic performance of the Seal Blade. The tests and simulations were conducted at a Reynolds number of 100,000. The Seal Blades showed consistent performance improvements over the baseline configuration. It was determined that a fuel burn reduction of approximately 5 could be achieved for a fixed wing aircraft. Noise reduction potential is also explored.

wakes↗
DOE OSTI2023

Hydrokinetic energy harvesting from slow currents using flow-induced oscillations

To harness marine hydrokinetic energy from slow flows, which constitute the majority of currents, tides, and rivers, new Passive Turbulence Control (PTC), consisting of large turbulence stimulators, is tested experimentally on circular cylinders on springs. Here, this study experimentally investigates the effect of PTC on the onset of Flow-Induced Oscillations (FIO) and particularly the relative onset of Vortex-Induced Vibrations (VIV) and galloping. Experiments are conducted in the Low Turbulence Free Surface Water Channel, University of Michigan. Fixed are: mass ratio m* = 1.48, aspect ratio l/D = 10.29, and total damping ratio ζ = 0.04. Parameters are: cylinder diameter D, spring stiffness K, PTC location and height, and flow speed U$\in$[0.36 m/s-1.45 m/s]. Placing the leading edge of PTC at 40–60° induces high amplitude FIO while placement at 10–20° suppresses FIO. As PTC height increases, VIV and galloping initiate earlier and exhibit higher amplitude with a steeper slope. Lower spring stiffness initiates VIV earlier by reducing the oscillator natural frequency in water. Even though large PTC maintained its effectiveness in initiating galloping early, it has no effect on the earlier initiation of VIV, which starts at a nearly fixed reduced velocity. Lower spring stiffness and large PTC enable power generation at low current speed (0.2 m/s).

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental and numerical study of the shielding effect of two tandem rough cylinders in flow-induce oscillation

The shielding effect of the downstream cylinder in flow induced oscillation (FIO) of two cylinders arranged in tandem is studied experimentally and numerically at Reynolds number 30,000 to 120,000. Both cylinders are in one degree-of-freedom, transverse-oscillations, and have turbulence stimulation in the form of selective surface roughness to expand FIO beyond vortex-induced vibration (VIV) into galloping. Shielding of the downstream cylinder has a negative effect on harnessing hydrokinetic energy. Further, to study its effect and mechanics, selective cases are studied both numerically and experimentally and discussed to demonstrate the shielding effect on the downstream cylinder and understand its cause. The main conclusions are: (1) The shielding effect for the downstream cylinder shows a strong relation to the damping ratio. As the damping ratio increases, the shielding effect is mitigated. Additionally, the oscillation of the rear cylinder becomes stable and shows stable frequency. (2) In the VIV region, as the stiffness and natural frequency increase, the shielding effect decreases substantially. (3) In the VIV region, the vorticity of the vortices shedding from both the upper and the lower sides of the downstream cylinder does not accumulate enough due to the attraction by the vortices shed from the upstream cylinder, thus resulting in partial suppression of the oscillation on the downstream cylinder. (4) In the galloping region, the shielding effect for the downstream cylinder depends on whether the vorticity near the downstream cylinder is strengthened by the vortices generated by the shear layers of the upstream cylinder or weakened.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Three-Dimensional Aerodynamics and Vortex-Shedding Characteristics of Wind Turbine Airfoils over 360-Degree Angles of Attack

In this work, we present the first three-dimensional (3D) computational investigation of wind turbine airfoils over 360° angles of attack to predict unsteady aerodynamic loads and vortex-shedding characteristics. To this end, static–airfoil simulations are performed for the FFA-W3 airfoil family at a Reynolds number of 107 with the Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation turbulence model. Aerodynamic forces reveal that the onset of boundary-layer instabilities and flow separation does not necessarily coincide with the onset of stall. In addition, a comparison with two-dimensional simulation data and flat plate theory extension of airfoil polars, suggest that, in the deep stall regime, 3D effects remain critical for predicting both the unsteady loads and the vortex-shedding dynamics. For all airfoils, the vortex-shedding frequencies are found to be inversely proportional to the wake width. In the case of slender airfoils, the frequencies are nearly independent of the airfoil thickness, and their corresponding Strouhal number St is approximately 0.15. Based on the calculated St, the potential for shedding frequencies to coincide with the natural frequencies of the International Energy Agency 15 MW reference wind turbine blades is investigated. The analysis shows that vortex-induced vibrations occur primarily at angles of attack of around ±90° for all airfoils.

17 WIND ENERGY↗