Effects of Axis Ratio on the Vortex-Induced Vibration and Energy Harvesting of Rhombus Cylinder

The vortex-induced vibrations of a rhombus cylinder are investigated using two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations at high Reynolds numbers ranging from 10,000 to 120,000. The rhombus cylinder is constrained to oscillate in the transverse direction, which is perpendicular to the flow velocity direction. Three rhombus cylinders with different axis ratio (AR=0.5, 1.0, 1.5) are considered for comparison. The simulation results indicate that the vibration response and the wake modes are dependent on the axis ratio of the rhombus cylinder. The amplitude ratios are functions of the Reynolds numbers. And as the AR increases, higher peak amplitudes can be made over a significant wide band of Re. On the other hand, a narrow lock-in area is observed for AR=0.5 and AR=1.5 when 30,000<Re<50,000, but the frequency ratio of AR=1.0 monotonically increases at a nearly constant slope in the whole Re range. The vortex shedding mode is always 2S mode in the whole Re range for AR=0.5. However, the wake patterns become diverse with the increasing of Re for AR=1.0 and 1.5. In addition, the mechanical power output of each oscillating rhombus cylinder is calculated to evaluate the efficiency of energy transfer in this paper. The theoretical mechanical power P between water and a transversely oscillating cylinder is achieved. On the base of analysis and comparison, the rhombus cylinder with AR=1.0 is more suitable for harvesting energy from fluid.