A wake oscillator model with nonlinear coupling for the vortex-induced vibration of a rigid cylinder constrained to vibrate in the cross-flow direction

In this paper, a new wake oscillator model with nonlinear coupling is proposed for the modelling of vortex-induced vibration. The purpose is to develop a model that is capable of reproducing both free and forced vibration experiments. To achieve this goal, an existing van der Pol wake oscillator model is first reviewed. The limitations of the model are discussed and the influence of different drag force models on the dynamic characteristics of the fluctuating lift force that matches the forced vibration experiments are studied. Based on this model, nonlinear coupling terms are introduced to improve its predictive capabilities. The tuning of this improved model to the forced vibration shows a good agreement with experiments in terms of the added damping. However, the model failed to capture the negative added mass at high reduced velocities. As a result, the new model underpredicts both the range and frequency of lock-in in free vibration tests. To eliminate this discrepancy, the model is further enhanced by introducing frequency dependent nonlinear couplings, which are achieved in the time domain by means of convolution integrals. A single set of frequency dependent, complex-valued functions – which are the Laplace transforms of corresponding convolution kernels – that reproduce the forced vibration experiments is determined over a limited range of frequencies. However, no analytical extension of these functions to the infinite frequency domain was found such that the causality principle and the energy conservation would be satisfied. The latter is a major challenge for all existing wake oscillator models that aim at reproducing the forced vibration experiments.