Enhance of energy harvesting from transverse galloping by actively rotating the galloping body

Abstract

Kinematic rotary control is here proposed conceptually to enhance energy harvesting from Transverse Galloping. The effect of actively orientating the galloping body with respect to the incident flow, by imposing externally a rotation of the body proportional to the motion-induced angle of attack, is studied. To this end, a theoretical model is developed and analyzed, and numerical computations employing the Lattice Boltzmann Method are carried out. Good agreement is found between theoretical model predictions and numerical simulations results. It is found that it is possible to increase significantly the efficiency of energy harvesting with respect to the case without active rotation, which opens the path to consider this idea in practical realizations.