Don't like windmills? What about a windbelt?

GenKreton · 11-11-08, 04:24 PM

I wasn't too familiar with the term so I read the wiki and it had this to say

"Flutter is a self-starting and potentially destructive vibration where aerodynamic forces on an object couple with a structure's natural mode of vibration to produce rapid periodic motion. Flutter can occur in any object within a strong fluid flow, under the conditions that a positive feedback occurs between the structure's natural vibration and the aerodynamic forces. That is, that the vibrational movement of the object increases an aerodynamic load which in turn drives the object to move further. If the energy during the period of aerodynamic excitation is larger than the natural damping of the system, the level of vibration will increase. The vibration levels can thus build up and are only limited when the aerodynamic or mechanical damping of the object match the energy input, this often results in large amplitudes and can lead to rapid failure."

It went on to say that "One famous example of flutter phenomena is the collapse of Galloping Gertie, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge."

This means that flutter is the exact same thing as resonance.

One thing that would be possible to change the natural frequency would be a system that tuned the length of the belt to change the natural frequencies but this would also mean moving the generators since I believe he had one at each side.

Interesting but I fear it's applications are limited in it's current form.

11-11-08, 04:24 PM	#1
GenKreton Lurking Renovator Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Cambridge, MA Posts: 29 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I wasn't too familiar with the term so I read the wiki and it had this to say "Flutter is a self-starting and potentially destructive vibration where aerodynamic forces on an object couple with a structure's natural mode of vibration to produce rapid periodic motion. Flutter can occur in any object within a strong fluid flow, under the conditions that a positive feedback occurs between the structure's natural vibration and the aerodynamic forces. That is, that the vibrational movement of the object increases an aerodynamic load which in turn drives the object to move further. If the energy during the period of aerodynamic excitation is larger than the natural damping of the system, the level of vibration will increase. The vibration levels can thus build up and are only limited when the aerodynamic or mechanical damping of the object match the energy input, this often results in large amplitudes and can lead to rapid failure." It went on to say that "One famous example of flutter phenomena is the collapse of Galloping Gertie, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge." This means that flutter is the exact same thing as resonance. One thing that would be possible to change the natural frequency would be a system that tuned the length of the belt to change the natural frequencies but this would also mean moving the generators since I believe he had one at each side. Interesting but I fear it's applications are limited in it's current form.