Experimental Study on Streamwise Vortex-Induced Vibration of a Flexible, Slender Cylinder

Laboratory tests on streamwise vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a flexible, slender cylinder were carried out in a towing tank. A cylinder model, 20 mm in diameter and 3.91 m in length, was towed horizontally to generate a uniform profile of relative velocity in calm water. The aspect ratio (length to diameter) and mass ratio (structural mass to displaced fluid mass) of the cylinder were 195.5 and 1.39, respectively. The Reynolds number was in the range of 1000–3000. The displacement amplitudes and vibration frequencies were investigated in order to examine the dynamic characteristics of the flexible cylinder undergoing streamwise VIV. Experimental results indicated that there were two detached branches in the streamwise response curve, i.e., the first excitation region (1.0 < Vr < 2.6) and the second excitation region (2.6 < Vr < 4.0). This phenomenon is similar to the streamwise VIV of an elastically-mounted rigid cylinder, except that a larger and shifted peak was observed in the second branch in this study. The cylinder’s linear orbits in the first excitation region indicated that the streamwise vibration frequency was equivalent to its transverse counterpart. However, in the second excitation region, the cylinder’s motion showed a figure-of-eight pattern, and the streamwise frequency was twice that in the transverse direction. In addition, two curve-fitted formulae of the maximum displacement amplitudes in the first and second excitation regions, versus the reduced mass-damping parameter, were proposed. This was accomplished by compiling the published streamwise VIV data and those in the present research work