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Flutter, Tumble and Vortex Induced Autorotation

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Abstract

The phenomenon of flutter and tumble of objects in free fall has been studied using two-dimensional numerical simulations of uniform flow past a plate which is free to rotate about a fixed axis through its centroid. Particular focus is on the effect of Reynolds number and plate thickness-to-length ratio on the flutter-to-tumble transition and on the observed frequency of the angular motions. Simulations indicate that the tendency to tumble increases with increasing Reynolds number and decreasing thickness ratio. A case is also made that the tumbling frequency for two-dimensional plates is governed by a Karman type vortex shedding process. These results for this pinned plate have also been verified by simulating a limited number of free-fall cases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The George Washington University, DC 20052, Washington, U.S.A.

    Rajat Mittal  & Veeraraghavan Seshadri

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa, IA 52242, Iowa City, U.S.A.

    Holavanahalli S. Udaykumar

Authors
  1. Rajat Mittal
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  2. Veeraraghavan Seshadri
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  3. Holavanahalli S. Udaykumar
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Communicated by

M.Y. Hussaini

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Mittal , R., Seshadri , V. & Udaykumar , H. Flutter, Tumble and Vortex Induced Autorotation. Theoret Comput Fluid Dynamics 17, 165–170 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00162-003-0101-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00162-003-0101-5

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