A parametric study of wind-induced flutter of piezoelectric patches for energy harvesting

A study of key parameters affecting flutter characteristics and power output levels from a thin piezoelectric patch immersed in a parallel, smooth flow was examined. The piezoelectric patch vibration amplitudes were augmented through the use of a polymeric “leaf”, freely hinged to the trailing edge of the patch. The leading edge of the patch was rigidly clamped to a relatively narrow, rectangular support that extended across the wind-tunnel test domain, giving effectively a two-dimensional testing scenario. The influence of clamping base geometry on the flutter characteristics was evaluated. It was found that the stream-wise dimension of the rectangular clamp had little effect, whilst an increasing cross-stream dimension tends to delay the onset of flutter. Stream-wise proximity experiments were conducted with two leaf-stalk systems, and it was found that there exists a point tandem and downstream of a fluttering leaf-stalk system, whereby a second leaf-stalk can output more than 40% more power than when alone.

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