Reduction/Suppression of VIV of Circular Cylinders Through Roughness Distribution at 8×10³ < Re < 1.5×10⁵

Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) of a circular cylinder in a steady flow is reduced using distributed surface roughness. VIV reduction is needed in numerous applications where VIV is destructive. Roughness is distributed to the surface of the cylinder in the form of sandpaper strips to achieve three goals: (1) Trip separation in a controlled manner so that some uncertainties are removed and the flow becomes more predictable. (2) Reduce spanwise correlation, which is strongly linked to VIV. (3) Select roughness grit size to achieve the first goal without energizing too much the boundary layer, which would induce higher vorticity and circulation, and consequently lift. Our experiments show that it is possible to reduce VIV amplitude and synchronization range. More tests are needed to achieve full suppression. Our experiments are conducted in the TrSL2 and TrSL3 flow regimes.