An Investigation on Fluid-Structure Interaction of Two Tandem Rectangular Cylinders

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the three-dimensional flow field with deformations of two tandem rectangular cylinders. The one-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) method simulated the deformation domain. The Realizable k-ε turbulence model was utilized to model turbulent flow simulation in the three-dimensional flow domain. The hydrodynamic forces, deformations, and stresses were calculated for different spacing configurations between the rectangular cylinders. Structural steel was chosen for the rectangular cylinders, while water was chosen for the fluid domain. The flow inlet velocity was maintained at 5 m/s for all simulations, resulting in a corresponding Reynolds number of 5×105 based on free stream velocity and cylinder width. The numerical results demonstrated that the cylinder spacing significantly affected the cylinders' deformation. The distance ratio between the two tandem rectangular cylinders to the cylinder height (x/H) was increased from 1 to 5. The front rectangular cylinder endured a higher pressure load than the rear rectangular cylinder, with the maximum deformation of the front cylinder found to be 7.15 mm. Due to the lower pressure on the rear rectangular cylinders, deformation varied between 0.98 mm and 6.02 mm as x/H changed from 1 to 5. This research provides valuable insights into the deformation behavior of tandem rectangular cylinders in three-dimensional flow fields. © 2023 by the authors.