Control of the VIV of a cantilevered square cylinder with free-end suction

A steady slot suction near the free-end leading edge of a finite-length square cylinder was used to control its aerodynamic forces and vortex-induced vibration (VIV). The freestream oncoming flow velocity (U) was from 3.8 m/s to 12.8 m/s. The width of the tested cylinder d = 40 mm and aspect ratio H/d = 5, where H was the height of the cylinder. The corresponding Reynolds number was from 10,400 to 35,000. The tested suction ratio Q, defined as the ratio of suction velocity (Us) at the slot over the oncoming flow velocity at which the strongest VIV occurs (Uv), ranged from 0 to 3. It was found that the free-end slot suction can effectively attenuate the VIV of a cantilevered square cylinder. In the experiments, the RMS value of the VIV amplitude reduced quickly with Q increasing from 0 to 1, then kept approximately constant for Q > 1. The maximum reduction of the VIV occurs at Q = 1, with the vibration amplitude reduced by 92% , relative to the uncontrolled case. Moreover, the overall fluctuation lift of the finite-length square cylinder was also suppressed with the maximum reduction of 87%, which occurred at Q = 1. It was interesting to discover that the free-end shear flow was sensitive to the slot suction near the leading edge. The turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) of the flow over the free end was the highest at Q = 1, which may result in the strongest mixing between the high momentum free-end shear flow and the near wake.