A Numerical Study of Fluid Structure Interaction of a Flexible Submerged Cylinder Mounted on an Experimental Rig

The aim of the study is to investigate VIV effects, not only on a test cylinder but also on the experimental rig being towed under water at a prescribed depth and operating speeds. For this purpose, a numerical Multi-Physics model was created using one way coupled analysis simultaneously between the Mechanical and Fluent solvers of ANSYS software package. A system coupling was developed in order to communicate force data alternately between the solvers with the help of automatic mapping algorithms within millesimal time periods of a second. Numerical investigation into the dynamic characteristics of pressure and velocity fields for turbulent viscous fluid flow along with structural responses of the system, stressed the significance of time and space scales for convergence and accuracy of our Finite Volume (FV) CFD calculations.