Interference excitation of a square section cylinder

Abstract

Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to study the interference excitation of a square section cylinder (test cylinder) and the results are reported in this paper. The study was carried out at some specific relative positions identified between the test cylinder (side dimension B) and the interfering cylinder (side dimension b) so that the latter is never upstream of the former. Experiments were carried out for the b/B ratios of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 & 2.0. In this paper, emphasis is laid on bringing out the influence of b/B ratio on the vibratory response of the test cylinder, considering a few interference positions. The results show that at a particular relative position, the magnitude of vibrations and the response trend of the test cylinder are markedly influenced by the b/B ratio. Under certain combinations of b/B ratio, relative position and reduced velocity, test cylinder vibrations are considerably magnified and in certain other combinations they are suppressed. Flow visualization results are provided in an attempt to bring out the influence of b/B ratio and also to explain the observed vibratory features of the test cylinder.