Vortex Shedding Calculator v1

Subject

Vortex shedding occurs when a structural element is exposed to external flowing or regularly pulsating fluids that generate cyclic conditions which coincide with its natural frequency. A couple of excellent examples of what can go wrong if this issue is not properly addressed are the Tacoma narrows bridge (1940) and the London Thames Millennium bridge (2002) where wind effects or other induced vibrations matched the bridge span’s natural frequency. If the above bridges had been constructed differently, they would probably not have suffered as they did.

Vortex shedding is a genuine and serious potential problem that can significantly decrease fatigue life or substantially increase material stresses. The vortex shedding calculator gives you the ability to predict the likelihood of this occurring in your structural element and under your specified conditions.

Calculator

The vortex shedding calculator determines whether or not a beam will vibrate at its natural frequency in specified conditions.

The vortex shedding calculator applies equally well to any sectional shape so long as the correct properties including added mass and drag coefficients are applied to the input data.

Given that no more than two mode types will occur between two supports in any multi-mode vibration (see CalQlata’s Mode Shapes calculator), Vortex Shedding allows you to calculate the likelihood of vortex shedding in two modes at the same time.

Whilst Vortex Shedding is a stand-alone calculator, it has been designed to work with CalQlata's Waves and Mode Shapes calculators.

For help using this calculator see Technical Help

Vortex Shedding Calculator - Options

For all of the calculation options, the input and output data are as follows:

# these values are only used for Oscillating Flow

Vortex Shedding includes a data import facility from CalQlata's Waves and Mode Shapes calculators

Check minimum system requirements