Aeroelastic instability of rectangular cylinders in a heaving mode

Abstract This paper deals with wind tunnel experiments on the aeroelastic instability in a heaving mode of two-dimensional rectangular cylinders in a uniform two-dimensional flow. Both the free oscillation method and the forced oscillation method are employed for the experiments. Emphasis is placed on finding the effect of the ratio c d , which is the ratio of the lengths of the sides of the rectangle, to the aeroelastic instability phenomena in the vicinity of the resonance speed. Emphasis is also placed on finding possible limitations in the application of the quasi-steady aerodynamic theory to the analysis of the aeroelastic characteristics.