Numerical study of vortex-induced autorotation of an elliptic blade in lid-driven cavity flow

Large-scale eddies in a lid-driven cavity are potential sources of angular momentum which can induce rotational effect in a free-to-rotate inertial body due to fluid–structure interaction. The novel objective of the present study is to investigate vortex-induced autorotation of an elliptic blade hinged at the centre of a lid-driven cavity. The governing equations are numerically solved using iterative direct forcing immersed boundary method. The impact of Reynolds number and blade length on dynamics characteristics of the blade are analysed. Considering left to right motion of horizontal top lid, four different vortex-induced modes are identified as the steady blade response, including stationary position, small-amplitude fluttering, clockwise autorotation and counter-clockwise autorotation. Long blades are mostly potential for steady clockwise autorotation, particularly in higher Reynolds numbers, due to dominance of principal near-wall cavity vortex compared to other vortices. In contrast, effective role of central counter-clockwise vortex in a short blade and weak interaction of such blade with the near-wall cavity vortex leads to a steady counter-clockwise rotation, particularly in high Reynolds numbers. In the case of low Reynolds numbers or blade with moderate length, vortex-induced blade motions in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions are fairly balanced, leading to stationary position or small-amplitude fluttering modes.