Experimental study on the flow-induced motion and hydrokinetic energy of two t-section prisms in tandem arrangement

Abstract

The advantageous performance in terms of energy conversion for the flow-induced motion (FIM) of T-section prisms has been experimentally reported recently. In order to further understand the oscillation and energy conversion of multiple T-section prisms, a series of tests of two T-section prisms arranged in tandem with five different spacing ratios (3 ≤ L/D ≤ 15) and seven load resistances (8 Ω ≤ RL ≤ 41 Ω) were conducted. The effects of the spacing ratio and load resistances on energy conversion were discussed. The main conclusions can be summarized as follows. For most tests, the amplitudes of the upstream T-section prism (UTP) and downstream T-section prism (DTP) were both lower than the amplitude of the single T-section prism (STP) due to the mutual interference of the two prisms. Because of the mutual interference, the active powers of UTP and DTP were both less than that of STP, but at some special spacing ratios or load resistances, the mutual interference benefited the energy converted by the two prisms. In the presented tests, the total optimal active power of the upstream T-section prism and downstream T-section prism (UTP + DTP) was 30.12 W, which was 1.5 times that of STP (20.12 W).