Enhancing Dynamic Response of Cantilevered Rectangular Prism Using a Splitter Plate as a Passive Turbulence Control in Water Tunnel

Abstract

The effects of splitter plate as a passive turbulence control on the transverse vibration characteristics of a cantilevered rectangular prism with the different finite length (aspect ratio L/H) and depth ratios (side ratio D/H of 0.2 and 0.5) was investigated in a water tunnel. A splitter plate was installed behind the prism with a small gap and sufficient length to prevent vortex shedding intrusion. It enhances the response amplitude ascended linearly with respect to non-dimensional velocity. In the case of the prisms with critical points, interferences of amplitude signal spectra for the period of displacement vanished, yielding a uniform waveform on the response amplitude. Inserting a splitter plate improves the increment rate of the dynamic response of the test models. A brief numerical calculation was performed to find the quantities of flow features around a plain and rectangular prism with a detached splitter plate. The alteration of flow wake characteristics is found by diminishing unsymmetrical vortices shedding and reduce flow entrainment at the trailing edge. The essential findings of the prism with a detached splitter plate are the base pressure improvement, reducing drag force, and vanishing sharp peaks of wake FFT spectra.