Mitigation of Vortex-Induced Vibrations of a Pivoted Circular Cylinder Using an Adaptive Pendulum Tuned-Mass Damper

A novel adaptive pendulum tuned-mass damper (TMD) was integrated with a two degree-of-freedom (DOF) cylindrical structure in order to control vortex-induced vibrations of the structure. The natural frequency of the TMD was adjusted autonomously in order to control the vortex-induced vibrations. The experiments were performed at a constant Reynolds number of 2100 and for four reduced velocities, 4.18, 5.44, 6.00, and 6.48. Two TMD damping ratios, 0 and 0.24, were investigated for a constant TMD mass ratio of 0.087. The results demonstrate that tuning the natural frequency of the TMD to the natural frequency of the structure decreases the amplitudes of transverse and streamwise vibrations of the structure significantly. Specifically, the transverse amplitudes of vibrations are decreased by a factor of ten and streamwise amplitudes of vibrations are decreased by a factor of three. Depending on the value of the TMD damping ratio, the frequency of transverse vibrations is either characterized by the natural frequency of the structure or by two other fundamental frequencies, one higher and the other lower than the natural frequency of the structure. The results demonstrate that, independent of the TMD damping and tuning frequency ratios, the frequency of streamwise vibrations matches that of the transverse vibrations in the synchronization region, and the cylinder traces elliptic trajectories. A mathematical model is proposed to gain insight into the frequency response of the structure and fluid-structure interactions. The model shows that, for low TMD damping ratios, the frequency response of the structure equipped with the TMD is characterized by two fundamental frequencies; whereas, for relatively high TMD damping ratios, the frequency response of the structure is characterized by a single frequency, i.e., the natural frequency. In both cases, the fluid forcing within the synchronization region is linked to the fundamental frequency/frequencies of the structure. Thus, the classical definition of synchronization applies to multiple DOF structures undergoing vortex-induced vibrations.