The study of the interaction between flowing fluids and bluff bodies in fluid mechanics shows us that bluff bodies over a certain range of Reynolds number will produce vortexes that are shed from alternating sides of the body in a consistent fashion. This phenomenon is known as a Kármán vortex street after Theodore von Kármán, who explained it theoretically in 19213. The effects of this vortex formation on the bluff body can be significant, especially for long slender structures like those found in the oil and gas industry. Suppression of this phenomenon is heavily studied but enhancing and harnessing this interaction for the purpose of energy extraction is just now being considered. The Vortex Power Drive (VPD), an expanded bluff body, was presented to Dick Engineering Inc. and Carleton University to determine the type of interaction between the VPD and the fluid through experimental modeling and to determine the theoretical energy extraction capability of the full scale device.
