Modeling flow around bluff bodies

The interaction of wind with elastic structures is complex. It is impossible to describe both wind and structural motion without considering the interaction therein. The purpose of this technical note is to present a method for simulating wind-structure interaction using commercial software. The use of commercial software is significant because it enables the utilization of this method by civil engineers of various technical backgrounds. The proposed method is a time-dependent, incremental load-response technique. It employs a partitioned procedure that uses Fluent's computational fluid dynamics software for finding the wind-induced forces on a structure, and Matlab for determining the corresponding structural response The method is validated by analyzing the two-dimensional vortex-induced oscillations of an elastically mounted circular cylinder. The cylinder is modeled as an elastically mounted rigid body with motion limited to the perpendicular direction with respect to the mean flow. The maximum nondimensional displacement of the cylinder is calculated and found to fall within the range of previously published numerical and experimental values.