Suppression of two-dimensional vortex-induced vibration with active velocity feedback controller

Abstract

Vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) establish key design parameters for offshore and subsea structures subject to current flows. Understanding and predicting VIV phenomena have been improved in recent years. Further, there is a need to determine how to effectively and economically mitigate VIV effects. In this study, linear and nonlinear velocity feedback controllers are applied to actively suppress the combined cross-flow and in-line VIV of an elastically-mounted rigid circular cylinder. The strongly coupled fluid-structure interactions are numerically modelled and investigated using a calibrated reduced-order wake oscillator derived from the vortex strength concept. The importance of structural geometrical nonlinearities is studied which highlights the model ability in matching experimental results. The effectiveness of linear vs nonlinear controllers are analysed with regard to the control direction, gain and power. Parametric studies are carried out which allow us to choose the linear vs nonlinear control, depending on the target controlled amplitudes and associated power requirements.