Hydrodynamic Coefficients for Vortex Induced Vibrations of Slender Beams

Empirical codes for prediction of vortex induced vibrations need reliable data for hydrodynamic coefficients. Such data are almost exclusively based on measured forces on rigid cylinders that have forced harmonic motions in cross-flow (CF) or in-line (IL) directions. This type of experiment is not able to capture all effects that could be important for realistic cross section motions of slender beams due to two reasons: 1. Slender beams will normally have combined IL and CF oscillations. 2. Higher order frequency components will normally be present for vibrating beams. It is difficult to measure local forces on short segments of flexible beams in laboratory tests due to the small diameters. The most convenient instrumentation is to use a large number of strain gauges or accelerometers along the beam. Proper data processing will then give reliable data for the motions, which means that the trajectory of cross sections can be found. Hence, the following set of experiments can be carried out in order to find hydrodynamic coefficients under realistic VIV conditions: 1. Experiments with a slender flexible beam and processing of recorded strains or accelerometers to identify cross section trajectories. 2. Measurement of forces on a rigid cylinder section with forced motions. Reynolds number, amplitude ratio, orbit shape and non-dimensional frequency must be identical in the flexible beam and rigid cylinder tests. Such experiments have been carried out, and the results are presented in terms of hydrodynamic coefficients for combined CF and IL oscillations. Coefficients are found for the primary CF and IL frequencies, but also for higher order frequency components. Results are presented and discussed in relation to well known results from pure CF and IL oscillations. One way of verifying that the coefficients have been correctly identified, is to apply the coefficients in an empirical response model and compare analysis results to the observation. This step has, however, not been carried out so far.