The effect of yaw angle on VIV suppression for an inclined flexible cylinder fitted with helical strakes

Experimental studies were carried out to investigate the response features of an inclined flexible bare cylinder as well as a straked cylinder in a towing tank, with the main purpose of further improving the understanding of the effect of yaw angle on vortex-induced vibration (VIV) suppression. Four yaw angles (a = 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°), which is defined as the angle between the cylinder axis and the plane orthogonal to the oncoming fluid flow, were tested. The cylinder model was towed along the tank to generate a uniform fluid flow. The towing velocity was in the range of 0.05-1.0 m/s with an interval of 0.05 m/s. The corresponding Reynolds number ranged from 800 to 16000. The strakes selected for the experiments had a pitch of 17.5D and a height of 0.25D, which is generally considered as the most effective configuration for VIV suppression of a flexible cylinder in water. The experimental results indicate that VIV suppression effectiveness of the inclined flexible straked cylinder is closely related to the yaw angle. The displacement amplitudes are significantly suppressed in both cross-flow (CF) and in-line (IL) directions at a = 0°. However, with increasing yaw angle, the suppression efficiencies of the CF and IL displacement amplitudes gradually decrease. In addition, the CF dominant frequencies of the straked cylinder obviously deviate from those of the bare cylinder at a = 0° and 15°. This deviation is substantially alleviated with increasing yaw angle. The IL dominant frequencies show less dependency on the yaw angle. Similar trends are also observed on the dominant modes of vibration and the mean drag coefficients.