Abstract Marine fouling changes the flow regime around sub-sea structures, such as Vortex-Induced Vibration Aquatic Clean Energy (VIVACE) converters. The present experimental study investigates the effects of marine fouling on mechanical power harvesting performance from the Vortex-Induced Vibration (VIV) of single circular cylinders. The towing tank VIV tests are conducted on elastically mounted rigid cylinders. Hard artificial marine fouling with aggregated spatial distribution is considered. Effects of coverage ratio and spatial distributions are investigated. The test results show that, on the whole, marine fouling suppresses the VIV oscillations. Over the upper branch, lower branch and the de-synchronization zone of the VIV response, energy transfer ratio (η) with the biofouled cylinders stay around 15–36% below that from the corresponding clean cylinder. It is also found that the coverage percentage of the fouling and the fouling irregularity negatively affect the VIV hydro energy transfer ratio. The fouling irregularity effects, however, are less significant than those from the coverage percentage. The results of the study suggest that biofouling growth may considerably degrade the long-term energy extraction performance of a VIVACE device.

中文翻译：

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硬质海洋污垢对单缸涡激振动能量收集的影响

摘要 海洋污垢改变了海底结构周围的流态，例如涡激振动水生清洁能源 (VIVACE) 转换器。本实验研究通过单圆柱体的涡激振动 (VIV) 研究海洋污垢对机械动力收集性能的影响。牵引油箱 VIV 测试是在弹性安装的刚性圆柱体上进行的。考虑了具有聚集空间分布的硬人工海洋污垢。研究了覆盖率和空间分布的影响。试验结果表明，总体上，海洋污垢抑制了VIV振荡。在上分支、下分支和 VIV 响应的去同步区上，生物污染圆柱体的能量传输比 (η) 比相应的清洁圆柱体低 15-36%。还发现污垢的覆盖率和污垢的不规则性对 VIV 水能传递率产生负面影响。然而，污垢不规则的影响不如覆盖百分比的影响显着。研究结果表明，生物污垢的增长可能会大大降低 VIVACE 设备的长期能量提取性能。