Validation of a two-dimensional numerical model for vortex/blade interaction

The numerical method developed previously to analyze two-dimensional vortex-blade interaction problems is validated using recently measured vortex-induced blade vibration data. It assumed a vortex lattice method to calculate the flow field assuming a distribution of sources and discrete vortices on the blade surfaces and a free wake model for the wake flow. A discrete vortex tracking technique in Lagrangian frame is used to track the path of the vortices. The blade is modeled as elastic structures with two-degree-of-freedom in plunging and pitching direction. The fully coupled fluid-structure interaction problem is resolved by means of a time-marching technique. The flow-field is assumed to be inviscid, incompressible and two-dimensional, with no flow separation occurring on the surfaces of the blade. Two cases were examined and they included a blade-vortex interaction and a blade vortex street interaction problem. In the blade-vortex interaction case, the blade is modeled as rigid; therefore, the response of the structure is purely aerodynamics. The calculated variation of the lift coefficient of the blade with the horizontal missed distance of the convected vortex compares well with known experimental results. In the blade vortex street interaction case, the blade is modeled as elastic and is under the unsteady excitation from a Karman vortex street. The calculated blade responses due to vortex-induced vibration are compared with some recently measured vibration characteristics of a flat plate placed behind a cylinder at different separation distance. Good agreement between calculations and measured vibration amplitudes of the plate at its mid-span is obtained, thus indicating that the numerical method gives a viable model for the analysis of the aerodynamics and structural response in vortex/blade interaction problems.