Vortex-Induced Vibration Experiments Using a Variable Stiffness Compliant Mechanism

The study of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) has a strong relation with experimental tests due to the complexity of this phenomenon, which is influenced by parameters that involve not only the flow parameters, but also its interaction with the exposed structure. Several experimental works have been carried out in the last decades in an attempt to provide a better understanding about this phenomenon. This work proposes a new translational mechanism with variable stiffnes applied to 1-DOF VIV experiments. A rigid cylinder with 25.4 mm diameter is used in the tests, with a mass ratio of 7.2 and a range of Reynolds number varying from from 1.5×10³ to 8×10³. The results show an expected behaviour for cylinder amplitude response as well for the frenquency ratio, indicating the capacity of the proposed device to reproduce the effects involved with vortex-induced vibrations on cylindrical structures subjected to external flows.