Cross flow induced vibration in a single tube of square array using LES

Abstract

Large eddy simulations (LES) of a single phase water flow through a square normal tube bundle at Reynolds numbers from 2000 to 6000 is performed to investigate the fluid-elastic instability. A single cylinder of the array is allowed to oscillate in one degree of freedom (1-DOF) in the flow normal direction, similar as in the corresponding experiments. The fluid-structure coupling is simulated using the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) approach. The subgrid scale turbulence is modeled using the standard Smagorinsky’s eddy-viscosity model. The LES results show a good agreement with the experimental results, in terms of the response frequency and damping ratio of the cylinder vibration. The dynamic case simulations are compared with static cases over the range of Reynolds numbers by means of the pressure profiles on the cylinder surface and the probe velocity spectra.