CFD Analysis of Vortex-Induced Motions of Bare and Straked Cylinders in Currents

Author(s):  
K. P. Thiagarajan ◽  
Y. Constantinides ◽  
L. Finn

It is widely acknowledged that the use of helical strakes for mitigation of vortex-induced motions (VIM) of surface piercing cylinders, such as spar platforms, is only partially effective. Using computational fluid dynamics tools, we compare the oscillation characteristics of a bare cylinder and a straked cylinder in uniform currents. Our model comprised of a straked cylinder with diameter of 0.741 m, aspect ratio of 1:1.9 and three helical strakes of height 13% of cylinder diameter. This geometry corresponds to the hard tank geometry of a scaled truss spar model known to exhibit VIM in tow tank testing. In the CFD simulations the cylinder is moored with linear springs to provide a range of reduced velocities. The fluid domain is made of an unstructured grid comprising of hexahedral elements. Fluid structure interaction utilizes grid stretching and a user defined function for solving the equations of motion. Turbulence modeling uses Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) and the boundary layer is modeled using a wall function with a surface roughness of 0.0003 m. Reynolds numbers are in the range of 50,000 to 100,000. Results for straked cylinder compares reasonably with published results, but under-predicts the peak response. In comparing with corresponding results for a bare cylinder without strakes, the spectral features of the transverse displacement show variations, which are found to be due to the spoiling effect of the strakes.

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangwei Liu ◽  
Luyang Zhong ◽  
Lipeng Lu

Tip leakage vortex (TLV) has a large impact on compressor performance and should be accurately predicted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. New approaches of turbulence modeling, such as delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES), have been proposed, the computational resources of which can be reduced much more than for large eddy simulation (LES). In this paper, the numerical simulations of the rotor in a low-speed large-scale axial compressor based on DDES and unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) are performed, thus improving our understanding of the TLV dynamic mechanisms and discrepancy of these two methods. We compared the influence of different time steps in the URANS simulation. The widely used large time-step makes the unsteadiness extremely weak. The small time-step shows a better result close to DDES. The time-step scale is related to the URANS unsteadiness and should be carefully selected. In the time-averaged flow, the TLV in DDES dissipates faster, which has a more similar structure to the experiment. Then, the time-averaged and instantaneous results are compared to divide the TLV into three parts. URANS cannot give the loss of stability and evolution details of TLV. The fluctuation velocity spectra show that the amplitude of high frequencies becomes obvious downstream from the TLV, where it becomes unstable. Last, the anisotropy of the Reynolds stress of these two methods is analyzed through the Lumley triangle to see the distinction between the methods and obtain the Reynolds stress. The results indicate that the TLV latter part in DDES is anisotropic, while in URANS it is isotropic.


Author(s):  
John Halkyard ◽  
Sampath Atluri ◽  
Senu Sirnivas

Spar production systems are subject to Vortex Induced Motions (VIM) which may impact mooring and riser design. Helical strakes are employed to mitigate VIM. Model tests are typically required to validate the performance of the strakes. This paper will report on the results of benchmarking studies that have been conducted over the past few years to compare model tests with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The paper discusses comparisons of CFD with model tests, “best practices” for the use of CFD for these classes of problems and issues related to turbulence modeling and meshing of problems at large Reynold’s numbers. This work is ongoing.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (5) ◽  
pp. 782-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Ge ◽  
Hwa-Liang Leo ◽  
Fotis Sotiropoulos ◽  
Ajit P. Yoganathan

Time-accurate, fully 3D numerical simulations and particle image velocity laboratory experiments are carried out for flow through a fully open bileaflet mechanical heart valve under steady (nonpulsatile) inflow conditions. Flows at two different Reynolds numbers, one in the laminar regime and the other turbulent (near-peak systole flow rate), are investigated. A direct numerical simulation is carried out for the laminar flow case while the turbulent flow is investigated with two different unsteady statistical turbulence modeling approaches, unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and detached-eddy simulation (DES) approach. For both the laminar and turbulent cases the computed mean velocity profiles are in good overall agreement with the measurements. For the turbulent simulations, however, the comparisons with the measurements demonstrate clearly the superiority of the DES approach and underscore its potential as a powerful modeling tool of cardiovascular flows at physiological conditions. The study reveals numerous previously unknown features of the flow.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-234
Author(s):  
Khelifa Hami

This contribution represents a critical view of the advantages and limits of the set of mathematical models of the physical phenomena of turbulence. Turbulence models can be grouped into two categories, depending on how turbulent quantities are calculated: direct numerical simulations (DNS) and RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations) models. The disadvantage of these models is that they require enormous computing power, inaccessible, especially for large and complicated geometries. For this reason, hybrid models (combinations between DNS and RANS methods) have been developed, for example, the LES (“Large Eddy Simulation”) or DES (“Detached Eddy Simulation”) models. They represent a compromise - are less precise than DNS, but more precise than RANS models. The results presented in this contribution will allow and facilitate future research in the field the choice of the model approach necessary for the case studies whatever their difficulty factor.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawei He ◽  
Decheng Wan ◽  
Zhiqiang Hu

This paper describes a set of VIM CFD simulations for a semi-submersible with and without helical strakes. The numerical investigations are conducted under low Reynolds number (Re) using naoe-FOAM-SJTU, a solver developed based on the open source framework OpenFOAM. The self-developed six degree-of-freedom (6DoF) motion module and mooring system module are applied to model motions of semi-submersible and the constraint of mooring lines, respectively. To carry out the calculations, turbulence closure has been chosen the Shear Stress Transport (SST) based Delay Detached eddy simulation (DDES), which uses the RANS model inside the boundary region and LES model outside the boundary area. This allows a realistic simulation within the boundary region where the vortex shedding is taking place, while not using unnecessary amounts of computational power. The Vortex Induced Motion (VIM) of semi-submersible with and without helical strakes was compared against each other for different reduced velocities (Ur). The flow characteristics of the semi-submersible platform is studied based on the characteristics of vortex shedding. For different current incident angles, time histories, trajectories and vorticity of the semi-submersible at different reduced velocities are reported. The result shows our CFD solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU is applicable and reliable to study VIM of semi-submersibles.


2011 ◽  
Vol 418-420 ◽  
pp. 1781-1785
Author(s):  
Guo Hua Gao ◽  
Jing Zhao ◽  
Fei Ma ◽  
Wei Dong Luo

In the present investigation, a computational fluid dynamics technique is used to investigate the ventilated supercavitation reaction to the change of gas supply rate. Detached eddy simulation, a hybrid RANS-LES method is used for turbulence modeling, and improved Singhal’s model is used to simulate cavitation process. Simulation results show that the change of cavity shape is lagging behind that of gas supply. When gas supply is shut, cavities experience a series fluctuation before reaching equilibrium state, if natural cavitation numbers are large; in contrast, they are monotone decreasing under small natural cavitation numbers.


Fluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunhui Zhang ◽  
Charles Patrick Bounds ◽  
Lee Foster ◽  
Mesbah Uddin

In today’s road vehicle design processes, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has emerged as one of the major investigative tools for aerodynamics analyses. The age-old CFD methodology based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach is still considered as the most popular turbulence modeling approach in automotive industries due to its acceptable accuracy and affordable computational cost for predicting flows involving complex geometries. This popular use of RANS still persists in spite of the well-known fact that, for automotive flows, RANS turbulence models often fail to characterize the associated flow-field properly. It is even true that more often, the RANS approach fails to predict correct integral aerodynamic quantities like lift, drag, or moment coefficients, and as such, they are used to assess the relative magnitude and direction of a trend. Moreover, even for such purposes, notable disagreements generally exist between results predicted by different RANS models. Thanks to fast advances in computer technology, increasing popularity has been seen in the use of the hybrid Detached Eddy Simulation (DES), which blends the RANS approach with Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The DES methodology demonstrated a high potential of being more accurate and informative than the RANS approaches. Whilst evaluations of RANS and DES models on various applications are abundant in the literature, such evaluations on full-car models are relatively fewer. In this study, four RANS models that are widely used in engineering applications, i.e., the realizable k - ε two-layer, Abe–Kondoh–Nagano (AKN) k - ε low-Reynolds, SST k - ω , and V2F are evaluated on a full-scale passenger vehicle with two different front-end configurations. In addition, both cases are run with two DES models to assess the differences between the flow predictions obtained using RANS and DES.


Author(s):  
Sampath Atluri ◽  
John Halkyard ◽  
Senu Sirnivas

Helical strakes are used to suppress the Vortex-Induced Motion of Truss Spars. Model experiments have demonstrated the efficiency of strakes in the Truss Spar design but also indicate that the VIM response is sensitive to the details of strake design and placement of appurtenances around the Spar hull. It is desirable to study these hydrodynamic effects using CFD. The following paper is a continuation of some of the earlier CFD simulations on this subject (see, J. Halkyard, et al., “Benchmarking of Truss Spar Vortex-Induced Motions Derived from CFD with Experiments”, Proceedings of OMAE’05). This paper in particular deals with the effect of holes in the strakes and appurtenances and their placement. All the simulations were done at model scale (1:40 scale model of an actual Truss Spar design) to compare the motions with experimental results. Mesh sensitivity and turbulence modeling issues are also discussed. Calculations were done using general purpose CFD code Acusolve™.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rens Liebrand ◽  
Maarten Klapwijk ◽  
Thomas Lloyd ◽  
Guilherme Vaz

Abstract This study evaluates the influence of transition and turbulence modeling on the prediction of wetted and cavitating tip vortices for an elliptical wing, while investigating the numerical errors. Transition modeling increases the quality of numerical predictions since the assumption of a fully turbulent boundary layer, commonly found in literature, contributes to underprediction of the tip vortex cavity size. By applying the local correlation-based transition model (LCTM) and controlling the boundary layer thickness using different turbulent inflow conditions, the pressure in the vortex was found to reduce by 20% for an Angle of Attack (AoA) of 5 deg. The consequent increase in cavity size was found to be of a similar order of magnitude. At 9 deg AoA, transition always occurs just downstream of the leading edge, making this AoA more suitable to investigate the effect of different turbulence modeling approaches. Azimuthal and axial velocity fields are validated against stereographic-particle image velocimetry (S-PIV) measurements. The time-averaged velocity profiles predicted by delayed detached-eddy simulation (DDES) and improved delayed detached-eddy simulation (IDDES) are close to the experiments; however, no velocity fluctuations and vortex dynamics are observed around the vortex. A comparison of wetted and cavitating simulations shows that the cavity leads to a change in the balance between production and destruction of turbulence kinetic energy, which reduces the turbulent diffusion in and around the cavity compared to wetted flow conditions. Consequently, the vapor flow exhibits the characteristics of a potential flow. Whether this is physically plausible remains to be investigated.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document