Aerodynamic Instabilities of Thin-walled Structures for Driving Novel Energy Harvesters - Numerical Simulation Method, Physical Effects and Analytical Model
Energy Process Engineering
Final Report Abstract
This project has developed several numerical models for two-dimensional (2D) vortex particle methods (VPM) to perform fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulations of thin-walled flexible systems. Modelling and analysis of aeroelastic energy harvesters have been the application concern of this project. The numerical model to analyse the interaction between the fluid and moving deformed body depends on accurate representation of the geometry and vortex sheet on the moving deformed body. Boundary element method (BEM) allows the discretisation of complex geometry and arbitrarily large deformation. The grid-less nature of VPM removes the requirement of mesh refinement at the fluid–structure interface. The finite element formulation of structural motion at the mid-surface is found helpful. For such FSI models of non-conforming mesh, the challenges exist in the requirement of projecting information from one interface to another, and it requires particular attention since they act independently. The enforcement of the velocity boundary conditions is satisfied in addition to the continuity equations. Presented numerical models have shown their ability to analyse aeroelastic FSI problems of thin-walled flexible structures, including different inflow conditions. The comparisons of the results with several experimental and benchmark FSI problems have shown good agreement. The study has demonstrated the applicability of the 2D coupled solver not only for analysing large-displacement FSI problems but also for predicting the motion and energy output of aeroelastic energy harvesters.
Publications
- Simulation of Aeroelastic Instabilities to Evaluate the Power Output of Flutter-based Electromagnetic Energy Harvesters, IABSE Spring Conference, Guangzhou, 2016
Chawdhury, S., Morgenthal, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.2749/222137816819258852) - Numerical investigation of flexible beams for electromagnetic energy harvesting under the wakes from upstream cylinder, VII International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering, Rhode Island, Greece, 2017
Chawdhury, S., Morgenthal, G.
- Modeling of pulsating incoming flow using vortex particle methods to investigate the performance of flutter-based energy harvesters, Journal of Computer and Structures, 209, pp. 130–149, 2018
Chawdhury, S., Milani, D., Morgenthal, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2018.08.008) - Numerical simulations of aeroelastic instabilities to optimize the performance of flutter-based electromagnetic energy harvesters, Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 29(4), pp. 479–495, 2018
Chawdhury, S., Morgenthal, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1177/1045389X17711784) - A partitioned solver to simulate large-displacement fluidstructure interaction of thin plate systems for vibration energy harvesting, Journal of Computers and Structures 224, pp. 106110, 2019
Chawdhury, S., Morgenthal, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2019.106110) - A pseudo three-dimensional multi-slice numerical model to simulate wind-induced vibration of thin-walled roof systems, 7th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering (COMPDYN 2019), Crete, Greece, 2019
Chawdhury, S., Morgenthal, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.7712/120119.7264.19815) - An extension of pseudo-3D vortex particle methods for aeroelastic interactions of thin-walled structures, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 208, pp. 104391, 2020
Chawdhury, S., Morgenthal, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2020.104391)
