VIV of two rigidly coupled side-by-side cylinders at subcritical Re

Cross-flow vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of two rigidly coupled circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement at a Reynolds number of 1000 is numerically investigated using direct numerical simulation. A low mass ratio of 1.27 is considered and the nondimensional centre-to-centre spacing ratio is fixed at 2.0. The reduced velocity ranges from 2 to 13. Three response branches are identified and these responses result in different wake and hydrodynamic characteristics. The cases with large amplitudes feature the co-shedding and lower pressure in the gap, while those with small amplitudes are characterised by two parallel vortex streets. Characterisation and quantification of the flow fields of two rigidly coupled side-by-side cylinders undergoing VIV, which have seldom been reported in the existing research, are elaborated on in this study via the statistical analysis in terms of the turbulent wake visualisation, Reynolds stresses, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis. It is found that the cases with large amplitudes show a more unstable wake with sharp increases in the Reynolds stresses and TKE in the near wake. Moreover, the large amplitudes are seen to weaken the asymmetry of the wake and the initial POD modes are more energetic. A reformulated version of the novel force decomposition technique is used to realise the measurement of the time-dependent contributions from each mode to the pressure drag. The large amplitude cases are associated with the drag mode and the lift mode, whereas three modes are observed as the amplitude decreases.