Higher-Order Spectral Analysis to Identify Quadratic Nonlinearities in Fluid-Structure Interaction

Hydrodynamic forces on a structure are the manifestation of fluid-structure interaction. Since this interaction is nonlinear, these forces consist of various frequencies: fundamental, harmonics, excitation, sum, and difference of these frequencies. To analyze this phenomenon, we performnumerical simulations of the flow past stationary and oscillating cylinders at low Reynolds numbers. We compute the pressure, integrate it over the surface, and obtain the lift and drag coefficients for the two configurations: stationary and transversely oscillating cylinders. Higher-order spectral analysis is performed to investigate the nonlinear interaction between the forces. We confirmed and investigated the quadratic coupling between the lift and drag coefficients and their phase relationship. We identify additional frequencies and their corresponding energy present in the flow field that appear as the manifestation of quadratic nonlinear interaction.