Buffeting of a slender circular beam in axial turbulent flows
This paper deals with the buffeting of a slender, circular, flexible beam-rod in an axial turbulent flow. The principal excitation mechanisms are the turbulent wall pressure fluctuations and the motion-dependent (self-excited) aerodynamic force caused by the beam motion. On the assumption that the turbulent wall pressure fluctuations are independent of the beam motion, a linear forced-vibration model is used to determine the buffeting response of the beam and to investigate the length scale effects of turbulences on the beam buffeting. Transverse buffeting of the beam in an axial turbulent flow depends largely on the ratio of the longitudinal scale of the turbulences to the bending wavelength of the beam and on the ratio of the circumferential scale of the turbulences to the radius of the beam. The spectra and the mean square values of the buffeting displacement of the beam become vanishingly small, both when either of these ratios is very small ( 10/sup 2/). When the former ratio is very large the first mode of the buffeting is dominant and other modes are less apparent, especially the high-frequency modes. 27 references, 3 figures.