A representative driven system to interrogate passive dynamics of an airfoil in the wake of a cylinder

Abstract

Passive motion of an airfoil in the wake of a circular cylinder is compared with driven motion of an airfoil in the same configuration, through simultaneous measurement of both the airfoil dynamics and the surrounding flow field. The passive mounting allows the airfoil to move in the transverse (heaving) direction in response to oncoming forcing, while introducing significant parasitic effects to the dynamics including friction. The driven motion of the airfoil reproduces important characteristics of the imperfect passive motion, validating idealized sinusoidal motion as a model for dynamics of the passive airfoil operating in a more realistic engineering context. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) of the driven case is then used to illuminate flow structures contributing to observed power and thrust production in both cases.