An analytic approximation of the drag coefficient for the viscous flow past a sphere

We give an analytic solution at the 10th order of approximation for the steady-state laminar viscous flows past a sphere in a uniform stream governed by the exact, fully non-linear Navier-Stokes equations. A new kind of analytic technique, namely the homotopy analysis method, is applied, by means of which Whitehead's paradox can be easily avoided and reasonably explained. Different from all previous perturbation approximations, our analytic approximations are valid in the whole field of flow, because we use the same approximations to express the flows near and far from the sphere. Our drag coefficient formula at the 10th order of approximation agrees better with experimental data in a region of Reynolds number R_d<30, which is considerably larger than that (R_d<5) of all previous theoretical ones.     

A finite element method to solve the Navier-Stokes equations using the method of characteristics

We present a simple and efficient finite element method to solve the Navier-Stokes equations in primitive variables V, p. It uses (a) an explicit advection step, by upwind differencing. Improvement with regard to the classical upwind differencing scheme of the first order is realized by accurate calculation of the characteristic curve across several elements, and higher order interpolation; (b) an implicit diffusion step, avoiding any theoretical limitation on the time increment, and (c) determination of the pressure field by solving the Poisson equation. Two laminar flow calculations are presented and compared to available numerical and experimental results.     

Numerical computations of critical flow over a weir

Computing critical flows in hydraulics involves three problems in one: the internal flow problem, the location of the free surface and the determination of the critical flow rate. The subject can involve such difficulties as non-uniqueness, non-existence, ill-conditioning and catastrophes. This paper discusses the difficulties relating to computing critical flows over weirs. A new rapidly convergent method of determining the critical flow rate is presented and various results are shown using it with finite element discretization and with a new streamline shifting method. Numerical results are in good agreement with published data, both numerical and experimental.     

Conjugate heat transfer in the unbounded flow of a viscoelastic fluid past a sphere

This work addresses the conjugate heat transfer of a simplified PTT fluid flowing past an unbounded sphere in the Stokes regime (Re = 0.01). The problem is numerically solved with the finite-volume method assuming axisymmetry, absence of natural convection and constant physical properties. The sphere generates heat at a constant and uniform rate, and the analysis is conducted for a range of Deborah (0 ≤ De ≤ 100), Prandtl (10⁰ ≤ Pr ≤ 10⁵) and Brinkman (0 ≤ Br ≤ 100) numbers, in the presence or absence of thermal contact resistance at the solid–fluid interface and for different conductivity ratios (0.1 ≤ κ ≤ 10). The drag coefficient shows a monotonic decrease with De, whereas the normalized stresses on the sphere surface and in the wake first increase and then decrease with De. A negative wake was observed for the two solvent viscosity ratios tested (β = 0.1 and 0.5), being more intense for the more elastic fluid. In the absence of viscous dissipation, the average Nusselt number starts to decrease with De after an initial increase. Heat transfer enhancement relative to an equivalent Newtonian fluid was observed for the whole range of conditions tested. The dimensionless temperature of the sphere decreases and becomes more homogeneous when its thermal conductivity increases in relation to the conductivity of the fluid, although small changes are observed in the Nusselt number. The thermal contact resistance at the interface increases the average temperature of the sphere, without affecting significantly the shape of the temperature profiles inside the sphere. When viscous dissipation is considered, significant changes are observed in the heat transfer process as Br increases. Overall, a simplified PTT fluid can moderately enhance heat transfer compared to a Newtonian fluid, but increasing De does not necessarily improve heat exchange.     

A comparison of mixed methods for solving the flow of a Maxwell fluid

The proficiency of available mixed methods for solving the flow of a Maxwell fluid is evaluated through their application to the same problem. The reasons for the usual degeneracy of the numerical results beyond some level of elasticity are investigated. The best-performing technique is applied to the flow through an abrupt 4/1 contraction.     

Effects of blowing through a porous strip in a turbulent channel flow

An experimental investigation is performed on a fully developed turbulent channel flow with local injection through a porous strip. The Reynolds number based on the channel half-width was set to 5000. In addition to the no blowing case, measurements are made for three different blowing rates σ = 0.22, 0.36 and 0.58 (where σ is the ratio of momentum flux gain due to the blowing and momentum flux of the incoming channel flow). Measurements carried out with hot-wire anemometry reveal that injection strongly affects both the velocity profiles and the turbulence characteristics. The injection decreases the skin friction coefficient and increases all the Reynolds stresses downstream the blowing strip. The turbulence structure and the bursting phenomena were examined using space-time correlations measurements and conditional analysis. It is found that the injection increases the frequency of occurrence of the bursts.     

Effects of suction or blowing on the velocity and temperature distribution in the flow past a porous flat plate of a power-law fluid

An analysis is made of the steady flow of a non-Newtonian fluid past an infinite porous flat plate subject to suction or blowing. The incompressible fluid obeys Ostwald-de Waele power-law model. It is shown that steady solutions for velocity distribution exist only for a pseudoplastic (shear-thinning) fluid for which the power-law index n satisfies 0<n<1 provided that there is suction at the plate. Velocity at a point is found to increase with increase in n. No steady solution for velocity distribution exists when there is blowing at the plate. The solution of the energy equation governing temperature distribution in the flow of a pseudoplastic fluid past an infinite porous plate subject to uniform suction reveals that temperature at a given point near the plate increases with n but further away, temperature decreases with increase in n. A novel result of the analysis is that both the skin-friction and the heat flux at the plate are independent of n.     

Finite element solutions for laminar and turbulent compressible flow

The time-split finite element method is extended to compute laminar and turbulent flows with and without separation. The examples considered are the flows past trailing edges of a flat plate and a backward-facing step. Eddy viscosity models are used to represent effects of turbulence. It is found that the time-split method produces results in agreement with previous experimental and computational results. The eddy viscosity models employed are found to give accurate predictions in all regions of flow except downstream of reattachment.     

Application of a high accuracy finite difference technique to steady,free surface flow problems

The spatially third-order accurate QUICK finite difference technique is applied to the solution of the depth-integrated equations of motion for steady, subcritical, free surface flow in a wide, shallow, rectangular channel with and without an abrupt expansion. The conservative, control-volume discretization of the equations of motion and the use of QUICK in approximating required cell and cell face average quantities is discussed. Results presented show that it is possible to obtain stable solutions for advective free surface flows without resorting to implicit numerical smoothing.     

A new constitutive model for fibre suspensions: flow past a sphere

A new phenomenological constitutive equation for homogeneous suspensions of macrosized fibres is proposed. In the model, the local averaged orientation of the fibres is represented by a director field, which evolves in time in a manner similar to the rotation of a prolate spheroid. The stress is linear in the strain rate, but the viscosity is a fourth-order tensor that is directly related to the director field. In the limit of low-volume fractions of fibres, the model reduces properly to the leading terms of the constitutive equation for dilute suspensions of spheroids. The model has three parameters: the aspect ratio R of the fibres, the volume fraction , and A, which plays the role of the maximum-volume fraction of the fibres. Experimental shear data are used to estimate the parameter A, and the resulting model is used in a boundary-element program to study the flow past a sphere placed at the centre line of a cylinder for the whole range of volume fractions from 0.01 to near maximum volume fraction. The agreement with experimental data from Milliken et al. [1] is good.     

Development of new triangular elements for free surface flows

New finite elements have been developed to simulate steady and unsteady two-dimensional free surface flows. The depth-averaged velocity components with the free surface elevation have been used as independent variables in the model. The differences between the various elements presented lie in the choice of velocity approximation. The Newton–Raphson method has been used to solve the non-linear system of equations. Emphasis is put on bench-mark examples to assess the accuracy and efficiency of the elements. A simple stable new element tested herein shows promising advantages for industrial finite element codes.     

Generalized integral transform solution for boundary layer flow over a sphere

The generalized integral transform technique is applied to the boundary layer equations for flow over a sphere in their primitive variables. Even though a diffusion-based eigenvalue problem is used, the velocity profile, shear stress and separation point have been calculated with high accuracy. Low-order approximations are shown to be accurate near the surface and the predictions of the separation point is very good. Comparison with finite difference results shows the better convergence behaviour of the integral transform method.     

The effect of a splitter plate on the flow around a finite prism

The effect of a wake-mounted splitter plate on the flow around a surface-mounted finite-height square prism was investigated experimentally in a low-speed wind tunnel. Measurements of the mean drag force and vortex shedding frequency were made at Re=7.4×10⁴ for square prisms of aspect ratios AR=9, 7, 5 and 3. Measurements of the mean wake velocity field were made with a seven-hole pressure probe at Re=3.7×10⁴ for square prisms of AR=9 and 5. The relative thickness of the boundary layer on the ground plane was δ/D=1.5–1.6 (where D is the side length of the prism). The splitter plates were mounted vertically from the ground plane on the wake centreline, with a negligible gap between the leading edge of the plate and rear of the prism. The splitter plate heights were always the same as the heights of prisms, while the splitter plate lengths ranged from L/D=1 to 7. Compared to previously published results for an “infinite” square prism, a splitter plate is less effective at drag reduction, but more effective at vortex shedding suppression, when used with a finite-height square prism. Significant reduction in drag was realized only for short prisms (of AR≤5) when long splitter plates (of L/D≥5) were used. In contrast, a splitter plate of length L/D=3 was sufficient to suppress vortex shedding for all aspect ratios tested. Compared to previous results for finite-height circular cylinders, finite-height square prisms typically need longer splitter plates for vortex shedding suppression. The effect of the splitter plate on the mean wake was to narrow the wake width close to the ground plane, stretch and weaken the streamwise vortex structures, and increase the lateral entrainment of ambient fluid towards the wake centreline. The splitter plate has little effect on the mean downwash. Long splitter plates resulted in the formation of additional streamwise vortex structures in the upper part of the wake.     

On penalty function methods in the finite-element analysis of flow problems

In this paper the penalty function method is reviewed in the general context of solving constrained minimization problems. Mathematical properties, such as the existence of a solution to the penalty problem and convergence of the solution of a penalty problem to the solution of the original problem, are studied for the general case. Then the results are extended to a penalty function formulation of the Stokes and Navier-Stokes equations. Conditions for the equivalence of two penalty-finite element models of fluid flow are established, and the theoretical error estimates are verified in the case of Stokes's problem.     

A power-law fluid flow past a porous sphere

Summary A model has been developed for the flow of a non-Newtonian fluid past a porous sphere. The drag force exerted on a porous sphere moving in a power-law fluid is obtained by an approximate solution of equations of motion in the creeping flow regime. It is predicted that the effect of the pseudoplastic anomaly on the drag force is more pronounced at large porosity parameters.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird ein Modell für die Strömung einer nichtnewtonschen Flüssigkeit längs einer porösen Kugel entwickelt. Die auf die in einer Ostwald-DeWaele-Flüssigkeit bewegte Kugel ausgeübte Reibungskraft wird durch eine Näherungslösung der Bewegungsgleichungen für schleichende Strömung gewonnen. Man findet, daß der Einfluß der Abweichung vom newtonschen Verhalten um so ausgeprägter wird, je größer die Porosität ist.

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A, B, C, D a, b, c, d coefficients in eqs. [10] and [18] - F _D drag force - K consistency index in power-law model - k ₁ ,k ₂ coefficients defined by eq. [18] - m porosity parameter - n flow index in power-law model - P pressure - P ^* dimensionless pressure defined by eq. [4] - P pressure difference - R radius of porous sphere - r radial distance from the center of the sphere - U velocity of uniform stream - u _i velocity component - u _i ^* dimensionless velocity component defined by eq. [4] - Y drag force correction factor defined by eq. [27] - _ij rate of deformation tensor - _ij ^* dimensionless rate of deformation tensor defined by eq. [4] - , spherical coordinates - dimensionless radial distance defined by eq. [4] - second invariant of rate of deformation tensor - ^* dimensionless second invariant of rate of deformation tensor defined by eq. [4] - _ij stress tensor - _ij ^* dimensionless stress tensor defined by eq. [4] - stream function - ^* dimensionless stream function defined by eq. [4] - i inside the surface of the sphere - o outside the surface of the sphere With 1 figure and 1 table     

Numerical solutions for impulsively started and decelerated viscous flow past a circular cylinder

A finite difference study of the unsteady two-dimensional flow past a circular cylinder has been conducted using vorticity and streamfunction as the dependent variables. The two cases considered were impulsively started and decelerated flows. The impulsively started problem was considered to validate the method and has yielded results which agree quite closely with existing results from both calculations and experiments. The decelerated flow analysis produced results which can be explained in terms of induced velocity effects from existing wake vortices for both suddenly stopped and uniformly decelerated flows.     

Slow flow of gas past a strongly heated sphere in the presence of blowing and evaporation from its surface

A solution is obtained to the problem of the simultaneous influence of blowing (evaporation) and large temperature differences on the flow past a sphere and on the force acting on it with allowance for the Burnett thermal stresses in the momentum equation. It is assumed that the Reynolds numbers calculated using the blowing velocity and the velocity of the oncoming flow, respectively, have the order Re_w 1 and Re 1. The temperature difference is determined by the boundary conditions, namely, a constant temperature T_w T on the surface of the sphere (VT/T 1). The problem is solved by the method of matched asymptotic expansions with respect to the small parameter Re. The equations reduce to a system of ordinary differential equations, which are solved numerically by the orthogonal sweep method [1]. It is found that under certain conditions the drag of the sphere can become negative.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 128–134, July–August, 1982.I thank O. G. Fridlender for valuable advice and interest in the work.     

The effect of slip distribution on flow past a circular cylinder

A slip boundary has been shown to have a significant impact on flow past bluff bodies. In this work and using a circular cylinder as a model system, the effects of various slip configurations on the passing flow are investigated. A theoretical analysis using matched-asymptotic expansion is first performed in the small-Reynolds number regime following Stokes and Oseen. A slip boundary condition is shown to lead to only higher-order effects (~1/ln(Re)) on the resulting drag coefficient. For higher Reynolds numbers (100–500), the effects of five types of symmetric slip boundary conditions, namely, no slip, fore-side slip, aft-side slip, flank slip, and all slip on the flow field and pertinent parameters are investigated with numerical simulations. Detailed results on the flow structure and force distribution are presented. Flank slip is found to have the best effect for drag reduction with comparable coverage of slip area. For asymmetric slip distributions, torque and lift are found to generally occur.     

Non-Newtonian flow past a sphere in a long cylindrical tube

Consideration is given to the problem of a sphere falling along the axis of a vertical cylindrical tube containing a viscoelastic fluid. Numerical predictions of the flow are obtained using a well established finite element Galerkin mixed formulation. The effect of elasticity on the streamline pattern, the drag and the stress field are discussed.