Simulation of turbulent flows around a circular cylinder using nonlinear eddy-viscosity modelling: steady and oscillatory ambient flows

Steady incident flow past a circular cylinder for sub- to supercritical Reynolds number has been simulated as an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equation problem using nonlinear eddy-viscosity modelling assuming two-dimensional flow. The model of Craft et al. (Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 17 (1996) 108), with adjustment of the coefficients of the ‘cubic’ terms, predicts the drag crisis at a Reynolds number of about 2×10⁵ due to the onset of turbulence upstream of separation and associated changes in Strouhal number and separation positions. Slightly above this value, at critical Reynolds numbers, drag is overestimated because attached separation bubbles are not simulated. These do not occur at supercritical Reynolds numbers and drag coefficient, Strouhal number and separation positions are in approximate agreement with experimental measurements (which show considerable scatter). Fluctuating lift predictions are similar to sectional values measured experimentally for subcritical Reynolds numbers but corresponding measurements have not been made at supercritical Reynolds numbers. For oscillatory ambient flow, in-line forces, as defined by drag and inertia coefficients, have been compared with the experimental values of Sarpkaya (J. Fluid Mech. 165 (1986) 61) for values of the frequency parameter, β=D²/νT, equal to 1035 and 11240 and Keulegan–Carpenter numbers, KC=U₀T/D, between 0.2 and 15 (D is cylinder diameter, ν is kinematic viscosity, T is oscillation period, and U₀ is the amplitude of oscillating velocity). Variations with KC are qualitatively reproduced and magnitudes show best agreement when there is separation with a large-scale wake, for which the turbulence model is intended. Lift coefficients, frequency and transverse vortex shedding patterns for β=1035 are consistent with available experimental information for β≈250−500. For β=11240, it is predicted that separation is delayed due to more prominent turbulence effects, reducing drag and lift coefficients and causing the wake to be more in line with the flow direction than transverse to it. While these oscillatory flows are highly complex, attached separation bubbles are unlikely and the flows probably two dimensional.