Prediction of vortex-induced vibration response by employing controlled motion

In order to predict response and wake modes for elastically mounted circular cylinders in a fluid flow, we employ controlled-vibration experiments, comprised of prescribed transverse vibration of a cylinder in the flow, over a wide regime of amplitude and frequency. A key to this study is the compilation of high-resolution contour plots of fluid force, in the plane of normalized amplitude and wavelength. With such resolution, we are able to discover discontinuities in the force and phase contours, which enable us to clearly identify boundaries separating different fluid-forcing regimes. These appear remarkably similar to boundaries separating different vortex-formation modes in the map of regimes by Williamson & Roshko (J. Fluids Struct., vol. 2, 1988, pp. 355–381). Vorticity measurements exhibit the 2S, 2P and P + S vortex modes, as well as a regime in which the vortex formation is not synchronized with the body vibration. By employing such fine-resolution data, we discover a high-amplitude regime in which two vortex-formation modes overlap. Associated with this overlap regime, we identify a new distinct mode of vortex formation comprised of two pairs of vortices formed per cycle, where the secondary vortex in each pair is much weaker than the primary vortex. This vortex mode, which we define as the 2POVERLAP mode (2PO), is significant because it is responsible for generating the peak resonant response of the body. We find that the wake can switch intermittently between the 2P and 2PO modes, even as the cylinder is vibrating with constant amplitude and frequency. By examining the energy transfer from fluid to body motion, we predict a free-vibration response which agrees closely with measurements for an elastically mounted cylinder. In this work, we introduce the concept of an ‘energy portrait’, which is a plot of the energy transfer into the body motion and the energy dissipated by damping, as a function of normalized amplitude. Such a plot allows us to identify stable and unstable amplitude-response solutions, dependent on the rate of change of net energy transfer with amplitude (the sign of dE*/dA*). Our energy portraits show how the vibration system may exhibit a hysteretic mode transition or intermittent mode switching, both of which correspond with such phenomena measured from free vibration. Finally, we define the complete regime in the amplitude–wavelength plane in which free vibration may exist, which requires not only a periodic component of positive excitation but also stability of the equilibrium solutions.