Bending and low-frequency vortex shedding of flexible cylinders in laminar shear flow

Simulations of the interaction between flexible cylinders attached to a solid surface and a laminar shear flow have been performed. The flow simulations fully resolve the geometrical details and are based on the lattice- Boltzmann method. An immersed boundary method is used to impose the no-slip conditions at the cylinder surfaces and to determine the distribution of hydrodynamic forces over the cylinder. The latter are responsible for the bending deformation of the cylinders. We first study simple shear systems under steady conditions for which experimental data is available that we use for validation. We then study flexible cylinders in Poiseuille flow that exhibit vortex shedding and demonstrate that the flexibility of the cylinders has a pronounced effect on the temporal behavior of the flow system.