Flow-Induced Deformation of Vertically Mounted Elastic Plate in Laminar Fluid Flow

Abstract

The flow-induced deformation of a thin vertically mounted elastic plate subjected to incoming fluid flow is investigated in the present work. This study primarily covers the two-dimensional flow regime in which the elastic plate is contained within a narrow channel and the Reynolds number is restricted to Re = 100. The simulation is carried out by employing an in-house fluid structure interaction code which couples sharp-interface immersed boundary method and finite-element method. A partitioned approach is used to couple fluid and structural solvers. The dynamic behavior of the system is explored by considering the influence of parameters like bending rigidity (Kb) and fixed mass ratio (M). The amplitude and frequency response is obtained for plate deformation with respect to reduced velocity (Ur). Three distinct branches i.e. initial, upper and lower branches are observed. A lock-in condition is found to be present in the upper branch. Finally, the effect of force components acting on the plate are studied.