2023ICERD8-C40 -- Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Using Wake Induced Vibration PDF

This paper investigates the wake-induced vibration of a thin piezoelectric (PZT) actuator in a laminar flow regime to explore the utilization of vortex energy in energy harvesting. In this study, the selected Reynolds number is 200 and the study focuses on the impact of vortices at different longitudinal spacing ratios. The longitudinal spacing ratio, represented as GR =L* = L/D, ranges from 3.0 to 6.0, where D is the diameter of the cylinder and L is the longitudinal distance between the cylinder and the tip of the PZT. The flexible PZT in the wake of the cylinder behaves as a cantilever beam, while the upstream cylinder remains stationary. The frequency of vortex shedding is found to vary depending on the characteristics of boundary layers and vortices in the wake for different GR values. The results demonstrate that based on the GR the imposed forces on the PZT varies which can affect the deformation of the PZT and consequently harvested power output.