Identification of hydrodynamic coefficients from experiment of vortex-induced vibration of slender riser model

One of the challenges in predicting the dynamic response of deepwater risers under vortex-induced vibration (VIV) is that it runs short of believable fluid loading model. Moreover, the hydrodynamic loading is also difficult to be measured directly in the VIV experiments without disturbing the fluid field. In the present work, by means of a finite element analysis method based on the experimental data of the response displacements, the total instantaneous distributions of hydrodynamic forces together with the hydrodynamic coefficients on the riser model with large aspect ratio (length/diameter) of 1750 are achieved. The steady current speeds considered in the experiments of this work are ranging from 0.15 m/s to 0.60 m/s, giving the Reynolds Number between 2400 and 9600. The hydrodynamic coefficients are evaluated at the fundamental frequency and in the higher order frequency components for both in-line and cross-flow directions. It is found that the Root-Mean Squared hydrodynamic forces of the higher order response frequency are larger than those of the fundamental response frequency. Negative lift or drag coefficients are found in the numerical results which is equivalent to the effect of fluid damping.