Effect of Scruton Number on Energy Harvesting Utilizing Flow-Induced Vibration

The consumption of renewable energy has shown a positive impact on society and industries. Renewable energy is used widely in electronic devices such as sensors. The aim of this study is to help increase the amount of consumption of wind energy but on a smaller scale for small electronic devices. The study focus on the effect of Scruton number on energy harvesting. Reynolds number of 6.277 × 103 were used in this study corresponding to reduced velocity of 10 m/s. Numerical simulation using OpenFOAM was conducted for this study and flow visualization is generated to understand the flow physics. A strong correlation was found between Scruton numbers with energy being harvested. The highest harvested energy was 1.6 mW corresponding to the highest Scruton number. Detailed analysis showed that the increases in harvested energy was not mainly due to change in amplitude vibration, but it was due to increase in the vibration frequency. Flow visualization showed that the increases of frequency vibration was due to the increase Karman vortex strength in the wake.