Experimental and Numerical Investigations of the Aeroelastic Stability of Bluff Structures

The study of the dynamic interactions between the wind and civil engineering structures has become increasingly important over the last few decades. Most of these structures are aerodynamically "bluff" and are becoming more flexible. Bluff-body aeroelasticity is a very challenging research area due to the unsteadiness and nonlinearity of the aerodynamic loading.

This thesis presents the investigation of three aeroelastic phenomena affecting bluff-bodies: Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV), Galloping and Torsional Flutter. For each instability, extensive experimental studies are carried out in the wind tunnel. Innovative analysis, based on the Common-base Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (CPOD) method is used to study the flow visualization data.

The VIV phenomenon is studied on a flexible tube with a circular cross-section, supported from its midpoint. A CPOD-based input-output model is developed to describe the system. The galloping instability is studied on a generic bridge section. A complete analysis of the aeroelastic behaviour of the structure is presented and a new polynomial empirical model is developed, which reflects accurately the nonlinear nature of the system. The torsional flutter phenomenon is extensively studied for two different structures: a generic bridge deck and a rectangular cylinder. The Motion Induced Vortex is identified as the fundamental cause of this aeroelastic phenomenon, on the basis of the analysis of the flow around the oscillating rectangle. In addition, it is demonstrated that the quasi-steady theory is not adapted to estimate the onset velocity of torsional flutter.

Finally, a 2D aeroelastic simulation code, based on the Discrete Vortex Method (DVM) is developed. The non-linear aerodynamics around the body are well reproduced, allowing the simulation of all the aeroelastic instabilities investigated experimentally.