Wind and Structures
Volume 37, Number 5, 2023, pages 331-346
DOI: 10.12989/was.2023.37.5.331
Unsteady aerodynamic force on a transverse inclined slender prism using forced vibration
Zengshun Chen, Jie Bai, Yemeng Xu, Sijia Li, Jianmin Hua, Cruz Y. Li and Xuanyi Xue
Abstract
This work investigates the effects of transverse inclination on an aeroelastic prism through forced-vibration wind
tunnel experiments. The aerodynamic characteristics are tri-parametrically evaluated under different wind speeds, inclination
angles, and oscillation amplitudes. Results show that transverse inclination fundamentally changes the wake phenomenology by
impinging the fix-end horseshoe vortex and breaking the separation symmetry. The aftermath is a bi-polar, one-and-for-all
change in the aerodynamics near the prism base. The suppression of the horseshoe vortex unleashes the Karman vortex, which
significantly increases the unsteady crosswind force. After the initial morphology switch, the aerodynamics become independent
of inclination angle and oscillation amplitude and depend solely on wind speed. The structure's upper portion does not feel the
effect, so this phenomenon is called Base Intensification. The phenomenon only projects notable impacts on the low-speed and
VIV regime and is indifferent in the high-speed. In practice, Base Intensification will disrupt the pedestrian-level wind
environment from the unleashed Bernard-Karman vortex shedding. Moreover, it increases the aerodynamic load at a structure
base by as much as 4.3 times. Since fix-end stiffness prevents elastic dissipation, the load translates to massive stress, making
detection trickier and failures, if they are to occur, extreme, and without any warnings.
Key Words
aerodynamic damping; forced-vibration; horseshoe vortex; transverse inclination; unsteady aerodynamic force; vortex shedding; wind tunnel experiment
Address
Zengshun Chen,Yemeng Xu, Sijia Li, Jianmin Hua, and Xuanyi Xue:School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
Jie Bai:China State Construction Silk Road Investment Group Co., Ltd., Xian, People's Republic of China
Cruz Y. Li:Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China