Numerical simulation of fixed and vibrating cylinders in a cross-flow
2025 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
As the consequences of tube vibrations in nuclear reactors can be critical, numerical simulation tools are very useful to better understand and predict these fluid-structure interaction (FSI) phenomena. In this study, an FSI coupling is implemented in the CFD software STAR-CCM+, in order to simulate vibrations of cylinders in a cross-flow. Firstly, the flow around a fixed and rigid cylinder with a Reynolds number of 3900 is simulated. CFD calculation rules are established and several turbulence models are tested, including the STRUCT-ε, a 2nd generation URANS turbulence model. Overall, the mean velocity profiles, as well as the mean drag coefficient and the root mean square of the lift coefficient obtained with the STRUCT-ε model are closer to the experimental results than the other 1st generation URANS models tested. Secondly, this STRUCT-ε model, coupled to a solid solver via a two way implicit coupling, is used to study the fluid-structure interactions for two inline cylinders in a cross-flow with a Reynolds number around 4000. The simulation parameters are chosen to reproduce an FSI experiment intendedfor the study of tube vibrations and conducted by OKBM. In this experiment, the two cylinders have different natural frequencies, one is therefore subject to vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) and the other, in its wake, to turbulence-induced vibrations. Mean velocity profiles are in good agreement with experiments, while differences are observed for the acceleration spectra, especially for the first cylinder. From these results, avenues for improving the computational set-up are proposed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025.
Series
TRITA-SCI-GRU ; 2025:019
Keywords [en]
Vortex-induced vibrations, Fluid-structure interaction, Turbulence, Modeling, CFD
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-361534OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-361534DiVA, id: diva2:1946463
External cooperation
TechnicAtome
Subject / course
Engineering Mechanics
Supervisors
Examiners
2025-03-212025-03-212025-03-21Bibliographically approved