Fundamental effect of vibrational mode on vortex-induced vibration in a brimmed diffuser for a wind turbine

Abstract. A brimmed diffuser for a wind turbine, also known as a wind lens, is a ring-like short duct that is installed around a rotor. It gathers and accelerates wind to improve the power generation efficiency from the wind turbine, and this effect results from vortex shedding intentionally generated by the brim. However, periodic vortex shedding can induce a vibration in the wind lens structure, which could potentially harm it in the case where resonance occurs when the vortex shedding frequency corresponds to the natural frequency of the wind lens structure. In this study, we investigated the fundamental mechanism of the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) in the brimmed diffuser structure at the Reynolds number of 288. A 2D aeroelastic analysis was conducted, utilizing 2D computational fluid dynamics coupled with the equation of motion in modal space based on the 3D FEM analysis. The 2D aeroelastic analysis provided a reasonable estimation of the critical wind speeds for the actual VIV observed in the wind lens structure. Also, we clarified the vibrational modes critical to the VIV of the wind lens structure, which are the radial and rotational modes of the brimmed diffuser section. Both modes were accompanied by the circumferential bending oscillation of the support arms fixing the brimmed diffuser and were susceptible to the vortex shedding patterns.