CFD-FSI simulation of vortex-induced vibrations of a circular cylinder with low mass-damping

A computational study of vortex-induced transverse vibrations of a cylinder with low mass-damping is presented. An Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation of the Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (URANS), along with the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) one-equation turbulence model, are coupled conservatively with rigid body motion equations of the cylinder mounted on elastic supports in order to study the amplitude and frequency response of a freely vibrating cylinder, its flow-induced motion, Vortex Street, near-wake flow structure, and unsteady loading in a moderate range of Reynolds numbers. The time accurate response of the cylinder from rest to its limit cycle is studied to explore the effects of Reynolds number on the start of large displacements, motion amplitude, and frequency. The computational results are compared with published physical experiments and numerical studies. The maximum amplitudes of displacements computed for various Reynolds numbers are smaller than the experimental values; however, the overall agreement of the results is quite satisfactory, and the upper branch of the limit-cycle displacement amplitude vs. reduced velocity response is captured, a feature that was missed by other studies. Vortex shedding modes, lock-in phenomena, frequency response, and phase angles are also in agreement with experiments.