Fluid-structure interaction of single flexible cylinder in axial flow

The fluid-structure interaction for an elastic cylinder in an axial fluid flow is numerically studied based on the ALE Navier-Stokes equations and Euler-Bernoulli beam dynamic equation. The cases for both laminar and turbulent flow are simulated. For laminar flow, the cylinder vibration is always damped and the damping effect is enhanced with increasing the dimensionless velocity. For turbulent flow, the dimensionless velocity has significant influence on the cylinder vibration. At small dimensionless velocity, the large displacement is damped to small oscillation; and at higher dimensionless velocity, the cylinder become instable and buckled. It is found that the loading induced by the turbulent flow is one key factor to induce the dynamic instability. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.