Vortex-induced vibration of an elastically mounted circular cylinder using an upwind TVD two-dimensional numerical scheme

Vortex-induced vibration (VIV) plays a very important role in the offshore petroleum exploration. For example, risers used in oil extraction from the sea bed to the offshore platforms are subjected to marine flows that may trigger dangerous VIV oscillations. Many researches have been spending a lot of efforts to understand the complicated flow around bluff bodies to control or even eliminate the VIV occurrence. Numerical simulations have been unsuccessful to predict the VIV amplitudes mainly because of the diffusive nature of the numerical methods. The present two-dimensional numerical investigation is a continuation of previous efforts trying to predict correct amplitudes of the VIV oscillations. The Roe–Sweby scheme is used to solve the slightly compressible Reynolds average Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations written in general curvilinear coordinates and the k  –ɛɛ turbulence model is used to simulate the turbulent flow in the wake of a circular cylinder. The numerical results obtained in the present work agree remarkably well with experimental data obtained from the literature.