Back to results

Virginia Tech

Simulation, Modeling, and Characterization of the Wakes of Fixed and Moving Cylinders

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The first goal of this work was to develop models based on nonlinear ordinary-differential equations or nonlinear algebraic equations, which produce the lift and drag coefficients on a cylinder or a cylinder-like structure. We introduced an improved wake oscillator for the lift, which combines the van der Pol and Duffing equations. We proposed a two-term quadratic model that relates the drag and lift coefficients, which reproduces the phase relationship between the drag and lift and its variation with the Reynolds number. We found that a mixed-type (external and parametric) forcing is needed to represent the effects of the cylinder motion. The second goal of this work was to develop a deeper understanding of the shedding and fluid forces on a cylinder and how they depend on its oscillatory motion within and outside the synchronization (or lock-in) band of frequencies. We performed extensive CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations and solved the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations that govern the flow fields around fixed and moving (in either the cross-flow or in-line direction) cylinders. We identified various wake modes that can exist, depending on the cylinder motion (direction, amplitude, and frequency) by using modern methods of nonlinear dynamics. The possible responses can be period-one, periodic with large period, quasiperiodic, or chaotic. Moreover, we found that the route to chaos is torus breakdown. We investigated how four frequency sweeps of the cross-flow motion affect the response curves and the hysteresis phenomenon. We studied in detail the effect of the in-line motion on the wake and related this effect to the reduction in the lift and mean drag due to a synchronization type that is very different from the one due to cross-flow motion.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Department dc:contributor.department
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2009

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Marzouk, Osama A.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Nayfeh, Ali H.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Devenport, William J.
  • Adjerid, Slimane
  • Hajj, Muhammad R.
  • Ragab, Saad A.

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-02262009-081815
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/26316

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Marzouk, Osama A.. Simulation, Modeling, and Characterization of the Wakes of Fixed and Moving Cylinders. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/26316