Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulations of Circular Cylinders Undergoing Two Degree-of-Freedom Vortex-Induced Vibrations

In an effort to gain a better understanding of the VIV phenomena, we present three-dimensional numerical simulations of VIV of circular cylinders. We consider operating conditions that correspond to high Reynolds number flow, low structural damping, and allow for two-degree of freedom motion. The numerical implementation makes use of overset (Chimera) grids, in a multiple block environment where the workload associated with the blocks is distributed among multiple processors working in parallel. The three-dimensional grids around the cylinder are allowed to undergo arbitrary motions with respect to fixed background grids, eliminating the need for tedious grid regeneration at every time step.