Numerical and experimental studies on reconfiguration of flexible beam with point buoyancy

In nature and engineering, a uniform flexible beam with point buoyancy is common. The response of a flexible beam with point buoyancy is more complicated than that of a flexible beam. Therefore, this paper numerically and experimentally studied the drag reduction problem of a flexible beam with point buoyancy. First, a governing equation with point buoyancy is established. Then, an explicit iterative numerical method is proposed to solve large geometric nonlinear differential equations. Finally, numerical and experimental analysis drag reduction phenomenon of flexible beam with point buoyancy. The results show that the reconfiguration shape of flexible beam with point buoyancy is no longer self-similar, and there are locally bending points in beam deformations. It is found that the Vogel exponent curve fluctuates due to the non-self-similarity of the deformation shape. Moreover, as the buoyancy gets greater, the fluctuation range of Vogel values becomes more profound.