William Calli '24 and Miguel Sanchez '24 | Webb Institute Senior Thesis 

Thesis Title: Enhancing Flutter-Foil Energy Generation
Abstract:
When bluff bodies are submerged in flow, vortices form on alternating sides of the body and cause it to oscillate in a direction perpendicular to that flow. It has been proven that these vibrations, induced in a cylinder, can generate electricity. It has also been proven that using a faired “fat-foil” section can increase the severity of vibrations when compared to a cylinder. The primary objective of this thesis was to build and test a Power Take-Off device to verify that electricity can be generated from vortex induced vibrations. Initial results show that significant power can be taken out and transmitted to a load. Secondary objectives of this thesis are proving that the vibrational increase from a fat-foil section translate to an increase in power generation, and to see if adding restorative forces to the foil’s pitching motion will result in another increase to the power output of the system.