Hydrokinetic energy conversion by two rough tandem-cylinders in flow induced motions: Effect of spacing and stiffness

• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.01.043
• Publication Date: 2017-01-25T22:18:45Z
• Authors: Hai Sun; Chunhui Ma; Eun Soo Kim; Gary Nowakowski; Erik Mauer; Michael M. Bernitsas
• Keywords: Tandem; Energy transformation

Abstract Flow Induced Motions (FIMs) of rigid circular cylinders, and particularly VIV (Vortex Induced Vibrations) and galloping, are induced by alternating lift. The VIVACE (VIV for Aquatic Clean Energy) Converter uses single or multiple cylinders, in tandem, on elastic end-supports, in synergistic FIM, to convert MHK energy to electricity. Selectively distributed surface roughness is applied to enhance FIM and increase efficiency. In this paper, two cylinders are used in tandem with center-to-center spacing of 1.57, 2.0 and 2.57 diameters, harnessing damping ratio 0.00