N. Zhao

Pitching-motion-activated flapping foil near solid walls for power extraction: A numerical investigation

A numerical investigation on the power extraction of a pitching-motion-activated flapping foil near solid walls is performed by using an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method in this study. The flapping motions of the foil include a forced pitching component and an induced plunging component. The foil is placed either near a solid wall or between two parallel plane walls. Compared to previous work on the flapping foil for power extraction, the effect of the walls is first considered in this work. At a Reynolds number of 1100 and with the position of the foil pitching axis at third chord, the influences of the mechanical parameters (such as damping coefficient and spring constant) of the foil, the amplitude and frequency of the pitching motion and the clearance between the foil pitching axis and the wall on the power extraction performance of the flapping foil are systematically evaluated. Compared to the situation of free stream, the power extraction performance of the foil near the wall is improved. For given amplitude and frequency, as the clearance decreases the net power extraction efficiency improves. Moreover, as the foil is placed near one wall, there is a transverse shift to the plunging motion that consequently weakens the improvement of net power extraction efficiency. In contrast, the shift can be significantly eliminated as the foil is placed between two walls, which can further improve the net power extraction efficiency. In addition, it is found that the efficiency improvement is essentially from the increased power extraction, which is due to the generation of high lift force.

Numerical study on the power extraction performance of a flapping foil with a flexible tail

The numerical study on the power extraction performance of a flapping foil with a flexible tail is performed in this work. A NACA0015 airfoil is arranged in a two-dimensional laminar flow and imposed with a synchronous harmonic plunge and pitch rotary motion. A flat plate that is attached to the trailing edge of the foil is utilized to model a tail, and so they are viewed as a whole for the purpose of power extraction. In addition, the tail either is rigid or can deform due to the exerted hydrodynamic forces. To implement numerical simulations, an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method is employed. At a Reynolds number of 1100 and the position of the pitching axis at third chord, the influences of the mass and flexibility of the tail as well as the frequency of motion on the power extraction are systematically examined. It is found that compared to the foil with a rigid tail, the efficiency of power extraction for the foil with a deformable tail can be improved. Based on the numerical analysis, it is indicated that the enhanced plunging component of the power extraction, which is caused by the increased lift force, directly contributes to the efficiency improvement. Since a flexible tail with medium and high masses is not beneficial to the efficiency improvement, a flexible tail with low mass together with high flexibility is recommended in the flapping foil based power extraction system.

Flow control of a circular cylinder by using an attached flexible filament

The flow control of a circular cylinder by using a flexible filament has been numerically investigated in this work. The cylinder is either fixed or elastically mounted, and the filament is attached to the base of the cylinder. Its leading end is fixed and its trailing end is free to flap. To execute the numerical simulation and deal with the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) of the filament as well, an improved immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) is presented. As compared to the conventional IB-LBM for handling the FSI of a filament, the current method can incorporate the mass effect of the filament and no user-defined spring parameter is needed to calculate the interaction force on the filament. After validating the employed method, the effects of the filament on the flow control of the cylinder are systematically examined by varying the bending coefficient (Kb) and length (L) of the filament. The laminar flow with a Reynolds number of 150 is considered in this study. Based on the numeri...

Numerical investigation of vortex-induced vibration of a circular cylinder with a hinged flat plate

The flow characteristics of the vortex-induced vibration of an elastically mounted circular cylinder with a hinged flat plate are investigated numerically in this study. By fixing the Reynolds number, the mass ratio, the damping ratio, and the plate length, we systematically examine the influence of the reduced velocities of cylinder and plate as well as the ratio of moment of inertia on the flow behaviors. With the help of the hinged plate, the cylinder vibration and the force fluctuations can be efficiently suppressed. Meanwhile, the drag force can also be reduced significantly compared to the situation of an isolated cylinder. Moreover, because of the large pitching angle of the hinged plate, smoother vortex shedding can be observed.

Role of induced vortex interaction in a semi-active flapping foil based energy harvester

The role of induced vortex interaction in a semi-active flapping foil based energy harvester is numerically examined in this work. A NACA0015 airfoil, which acts as an energy harvester, is placed in a two-dimensional laminar flow. It performs an imposed pitching motion that subsequently leads to a plunging motion. Two auxiliary smaller foils, which rotate about their centers, are arranged above and below the flapping foil, respectively. As a consequence, the vortex interaction between the flapping foil and the rotating foil is induced. At a Reynolds number of 1100 and the position of the pitching axis at one-third chord, the effects of the distance between two auxiliary foils, the phase difference between the rotating motion and the pitching motion as well as the frequency of pitching motion on the power extraction performance are systematically investigated. It is found that compared to the single flapping foil, the efficiency improvement of overall power extraction for the flapping foil with two auxiliary foils can be achieved. Based on the numerical analysis, it is indicated that the enhanced power extraction, which is caused by the increased lift force, thanks to the induced vortex interaction, directly benefits the efficiency enhancement.