This paper presents the response and the wake modes of a freely vibrating D-section prism with varying angles of attack ( $\alpha = 0^\circ \text {--}180^\circ$ ) and reduced velocity ( $U^* = 2\text {--}20$ ) by a numerical investigation. The Reynolds number, based on the effective diameter, is fixed at 100. The vibration of the prism is allowed only in the transverse direction. We found six types of response with increasing angle of attack: typical vortex-induced vibration (VIV) at $\alpha = 0^\circ \text {--}35^\circ$ ; extended VIV at $\alpha = 40^\circ \text {--}65^\circ$ ; combined VIV and galloping at $\alpha = 70^\circ \text {--}80^\circ$ ; narrowed VIV at $\alpha = 85^\circ \text {--}150^\circ$ ; transition response, from narrowed VIV to pure galloping, at $\alpha = 155^\circ \text {--}160^\circ$ ; and pure galloping at $\alpha = 165^\circ \text {--}180^\circ$ . The typical and narrowed VIVs are characterized by linearly increasing normalized vibration frequency with increasing $U^*$ , which is attributed to the stationary separation points of the boundary layer. On the other hand, in the extended VIV, the vortex shedding frequency matches the natural frequency in a large $U^*$ range with increasing $\alpha$ generally. The galloping is characterized by monotonically increasing amplitude with enlarging $U^*$ , with the largest amplitude being $A^* = 3.2$ . For the combined VIV and galloping, the vibration amplitude is marginal in the VIV branch while it significantly increases with $U^*$ in the galloping branch. In the transition from narrowed VIV to pure galloping, the vibration frequency shows a galloping-like feature, but the amplitude does not monotonically increase with increasing $U^*$ . Moreover, a partition of the wake modes in the $U^*$ – $\alpha$ parametric plane is presented, and the flow physics is elucidated through time variations of the displacement, drag and lift coefficients and vortex dynamics. The angle-of-attack range of galloping is largely predicted by performing a quasi-steady analysis of the galloping instability. Finally, the effects of $m^*$ and ${\textit {Re}}$ , the roles of afterbody and the roles of separation point in determining vibration responses and vortex shedding frequency are further discussed.

The flow-induced vibrations (FIVs) of two identical tandem square cylinders with mass ratio m* = 3.5 at Reynolds number Re = 150 are investigated through two-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) and linear stability analysis over a parameter range of spacing ratio 1.5 ≤ L* ≤ 5 and reduced velocity 3 ≤ U_r ≤ 34. Three kinds of FIV responses, namely vortex-induced vibration (VIV), biased oscillation (BO) and galloping (GA), are identified. The FIVs are then further classified into the branches of initial VIV (IV), resonant VIV (RV and RV′), flutter-induced VIV (FV), desynchronized VIV (DV), VIV developing from GA (GV), transitional state between VIV and GA (TR), BO and GA based on the characteristics of the vibration responses. The transitions among different FIV branches are examined by combining the DNS with linear stability analysis, where the transition boundaries among the VIV, BO and GA branches over the concerned parameters are identified on the branch maps. The transition from IV to RV or RV′ is found to be related to the unstable wake mode, while the FV, transiting from RV or RV′, is induced by the unstable structural factor in the wake-structure mode. The structural instability is considered as the physical origin of GA, whereas the mode competition between unstable wake and structure leads to DV, GV and TR, and thus delays the appearance of GA. The transition from DV to BO with biased equilibrium position, accompanied by the even-order harmonic frequencies, is essentially induced by the symmetry breaking bifurcation.

Three-dimensional (3D) wake transition for a circular cylinder placed near to a moving wall is investigated using direct numerical simulation (DNS). The study covers a parameter space spanning a gap ratio $(G/D)\geqslant 0.3$ and Reynolds number ( $Re$ ) up to 325. The wake transition regimes in the parameter space are mapped out. It is found that vortex dislocation associated with Mode A is completely suppressed at $G/D$ smaller than approximately 1.0. The suppression of vortex dislocation is believed to be due to the confinement of the Mode A streamwise vortices by the plane wall, which suppresses the excess growth and local dislocation of any Mode A vortex loop. Detailed wake transition is examined at $G/D=0.4$ , where the wake transition sequence is ‘two-dimensional (2D) $\rightarrow$ ordered Mode A $\rightarrow$ mode swapping (without dislocations) $\rightarrow$ Mode B’. Relatively strong three-dimensionality is found at $Re=160{-}220$ as the wake is dominated by large-scale structure of ordered Mode A, and also at $Re\geqslant 285$ , where Mode B becomes increasingly disordered. A local reduction in three-dimensionality is observed at $Re=225{-}275$ , where the wake is dominated by finer-scale structure of a mixture of ordered Modes A and B. Corresponding variations in the vortex shedding frequency and hydrodynamic forces are also investigated.