Effectiveness of splitter plate in suppressing the flow induced vibration of a circular cylinder

Abstract

The effectiveness of splitter plate as suppression device in reducing the flow-induced vibration (FIV) of a circular cylinder was conducted experimentally. The parameter used in this experiment is the gap separation between splitter plate and the circular cylinder (G/D). The control element of gap separations are varied from 0.5 to 2.0. The experiments were conducted in the wind tunnel which was free from external wind conditions at Aeronautical and Wind Engineering Laboratory (AEROLAB), UTM Kuala Lumpur. A supporting structure was designed and fabricated with the purpose to allow free vibration induced by wind on the circular cylinder. The results were analysed through the response of amplitude and power spectral density of the circular cylinder with splitter plate and compared with bare circular cylinder. For the gap separations of G/D = 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0, the vibration of the circular cylinder were successfully suppressed. The optimal distance for gap separation was at G/D = 1.5 with suppression effectiveness of 82%. For G/D = 0.5, on the contrary, the vibration of the circular cylinder was amplified. As conclusion, splitter plate can function to suppress as well as amplify the vibration of cylinder, depending on the gap separation.