T-RANS Simulations of Subcritical Flow with Heat Transfer Past a Circular Cylinder Surrounded by a Thin Porous Layer

We study flow and heat transfer to a cylinder in cross flow at Re = 3,900–80,000 by means of three-dimensional transient RANS (T-RANS) simulations, employing an RNG k − ε turbulence model. Both the case of a bare solid cylinder and that of a solid cylinder surrounded at some fixed distance by a thin porous layer have been studied. The latter configuration is a standard test geometry for measuring the insulating and protective performance of garments. In this geometry, the flow in the space between the solid cylinder and the porous layer is laminar but periodic, whereas the outer flow is transitional and characterized by vortex shedding in the wake of the cylinder. The results from the T-RANS simulations are validated against data from Direct Numerical Simulations and experiments. It is found that T-RANS is very well suited for simulating this type of flow. The transient nature of the flow underneath the porous layer is well reproduced, as well as the influence of vortex shedding on the heat transfer in the downstream stagnation zone. T-RANS results are found to be in much better agreement with DNS and experimental data than results from steady-state RANS.     

Detached-Eddy Simulations Past a Circular Cylinder

The flow is calculated with laminar separation (LS) at Reynolds numbers 50,000 and 140,000, and with turbulent separation (TS) at140,000 and 3 × 10₆. The TS cases are effectively tripped, but compared with untripped experiments at very high Reynolds numbers. The finest grid has about 18,000 points in each of 56 grid planes spanwise; the resolution is far removed from Direct Numerical Simulations, and the turbulence model controls the separation if turbulent. The agreement is quite good for drag, shedding frequency, pressure, and skin friction. However the comparison is obscured by large modulations of the vortex shedding and drag which are very similar to those seen in experiments but also, curiously, durably different between cases especially of the LS type. The longest simulations reach only about 50 shedding cycles. Disagreement with experimental Reynolds stresses reaches about 30%, and the length of the recirculation bubble is about double that measured. The discrepancies are discussed, as are the effects of grid refinement, Reynolds number, and a turbulence-model curvature correction. The finest grid does not give the very best agreement with experiment. The results add to the validation base of the Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) technique for smooth-surface separation. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged simulations are much less accurate than DES for LS cases, but very close for TS cases. Cases with a more intricate relationship between transition and separation are left for future study. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Supersonic Laminar-Turbulent Gas Flow Past a Circular Cylinder

The flow past a circular cylinder with an isothermal surface at Mach numbers M=2 and 5 and Reynolds numbers ranging from 10⁴ to 10⁸ is investigated on the basis of the Reynolds equations using a differential two-equation turbulence model. The effect of flow turbulization on the separation point displacement, the separation zone length, the maximum velocity reduction in the separation zone, and the increase in the heat flux at the rear stagnation point is determined.     

Mixed Convection Boundary Layer Flow Past a Horizontal Circular Cylinder Embedded in a Bidisperse Porous Medium

Adopting a two-temperature and two-velocity model, appropriate to a bidisperse porous medium (BDPM) proposed by Nield and Kuznetsov (2008), the classical steady, mixed convection boundary layer flow about a horizontal, isothermal circular cylinder embedded in a porous medium has been theoretically studied in this article. It is shown that the boundary layer analysis leads to expressions for the flow and heat transfer characteristics in terms of an inter-phase momentum parameter, a thermal diffusivity ratio, a thermal conductivity ratio, a permeability ratio, a modified thermal capacity ratio, and a buoyancy or mixed convection parameter. The transformed partial differential equations governing the flow and heat transfer in the f-phase (the macro-pores) and the p-phase (the remainder of the structure) are solved numerically using a very efficient implicit finite-difference technique known as Keller-box method. A good agreement is observed between the present results and those known from the open literature in the special case of a traditional Darcy formulation (monodisperse system).     

Potential Flow Past a Slightly Deformed Porous Circular Cylinder

A uniform potential flow past a porous circular cylinder with a core of different permeability is discussed. The porous circular cylinder is slightly deformed whose radius is r=r₁(1+ecosm q){r=r_1(1+\epsilon \cos m \theta)} , where | e | << 1{\mid\epsilon\mid\ll 1} and m is a positive integer. Here r, θ are the polar coordinates and r ₁ is the characteristic radius of the cylinder. The drag force exerted by the exterior flow on the surface of the cylinder is calculated and it depends on the thickness of the porous material and on the permeabilities of the two porous regions. As special cases, porous cylinder with hollow core, rigid core, and deformed cylinder is discussed.     

Supersonic Flow Past a Circular Cylinder with an Isothermal Surface

Supersonic perfect-gas flow past a circular cylinder with an isothermal surface is investigated at the Mach number 5 and Reynolds numbers ranging from 30 to 500,000. It is shown that two branches of the numerical solution of the problem can exist. On the first branch the following flow patterns are successively realized as Re is increased: separationless flow, flow with formation of a local separation zone, and flow with formation of a global separation zone. On the second branch the flow pattern with a local separation zone is observed at all Reynolds numbers; at a certain value of Re this solution jumps to the first branch.     

Oscillations of a Cylinder Induced by Free Surface Flow

The results of experiments in which a cylinder freely located on a fixed shaft performs small harmonic oscillations driven by a subcritical free stream in an open channel are given. Examples of the strong feedback effect of the cylinder oscillations on the hydrodynamic wake and surface gravity waves are obtained.     

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.     

Numerical Study of the Flow Behind a Rotary Oscillating Circular Cylinder

A numerical study is performed of flow behind a rotationally oscillating circular cylinder in a uniform flow by solving the two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The flow behavior in lock-on regime and the timing of vortex formation from the oscillating cylinder are studied. When the frequency of excitation of the cylinder is in the vicinity of the natural vortex formation frequency, a lock-on vortex formation regime appears. As the excitation frequency being increased relative to the natural frequency the initially formed vorticity concentration switches to the opposite side of the cylinder. The effects of oscillating frequency and amplitude on the vortex structures formed in the near wake of the cylinder are also investigated. Based on the present calculated results, some complicated vortex patterns are identified and are consistent with the previous experimental visualizations.     

Analyzing the fluctuating pressures acting on a circular cylinder using stochastic decomposition

Fluctuating wind pressures acting on bluff bodies are influenced by approaching turbulence and signature (body-induced) turbulence. For a circular cylinder, the signature turbulence is closely related to the formation of Karman vortex shedding. In this paper, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and spectral proper transformation techniques (SPT) are applied to the pressure fluctuations acting on a circular cylinder. The physical relationships between the decomposed modes and vortex shedding are discussed to identify the dominant aerodynamic behavior (lift or drag) and to evaluate its contribution to overall behavior. The effect of Reynolds number (Re) is also addressed. It is found that the application of POD and SPT can separate the along-wind and across-wind effects on the cylinder model in both subcritical and supercritical regimes. In contrast to POD, the SPT mode is formulated in the frequency domain, and the dynamic coherent structures can be defined in terms of amplitude and phase angle, which allows detection of the advection features of vortex shedding. In addition, it is observed that the energy contribution of the shedding induced lift force increases with Re and gradually becomes a dominant aerodynamic force at Reynolds numbers in the supercritical regime.     

Flow past a square cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Results are presented for the flow past a stationary square cylinder at zero incidence for Reynolds number, Re ? 150. A stabilized finite‐element formulation is employed to discretize the equations of incompressible fluid flow in two‐dimensions. For the first time, values of the laminar separation Reynolds number, Re_s, and separation angle, θ_s, at Re_s are predicted. Also, the variation of θ_s with Re is presented. It is found that the steady separation initiates at Re = 1.15. Contrary to the popular belief that separation originates at the rear sharp corners, it is found to originate from the base point, i.e. θ_s=180^° at Re = Re_s. For Re > 5, θ_s approaches the limit of 135 ^°. The length of the separation bubble increases approximately linearly with increasing Re. The drag coefficient varies as Re^?0.66. Flow characteristics at Re ? 40 are also presented for elliptical cylinders of aspect ratios 0.2, 0.5, 0.8 and 1 (circle) having the same characteristic dimension as the square and major axis oriented normal to the free‐stream. Compared with a circular cylinder, the flow separates at a much lower Re from a square cylinder leading to the formation of a bigger wake (larger bubble length and width). Consequently, at a given Re, the drag on a square cylinder is more than the drag of a circular cylinder. This suggests that a cylinder with square section is more bluff than the one with circular section. Among all the cylinder shapes studied, the square cylinder with sharp corners generates the largest amount of drag. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical Simulation of the Unsteady Laminar Flow Past a Circular Cylinder with a Perforated Sheath

The unsteady two-dimensional laminar flow past a circular cylinder encased in a perforated sheath is numerically simulated. On the basis of the calculated results a technique for controlling the wake flow by diverting a portion of the flow from the forward stagnation point through internal ducts to orifices in the sheath located in the separation zone, is analyzed.     

On the Lower Critical Reynolds Number for Flow in a Circular Pipe

Flow in a circular pipe is investigated experimentally at Reynolds numbers higher than that at which the resistance coefficients calculated from the Blasius formula for laminar flow and from the Prandtl formula for turbulent flow are equal. The corresponding Reynolds number based on the mean-flow velocity and the pipe diameter is about 1000. The experiments were performed at a high level of inlet pulsations produced by feeding gas into the pipe through a hole with a diameter several times smaller than the pipe diameter. In our experiments the critical Reynolds number was determined as the value, independent of the distance from the inlet, at which the ratio of the axial to the mean-flow velocity as a function of the Reynolds number deviated from 2. At the maximum ratio of the pipe cross-sectional area to the area of the hole through which the gas entered the pipe, equal to 26, the critical Reynolds number was about 2300. After a fivefold increase in the hole area the critical Reynolds number increased by approximately 4%.At Reynolds numbers below 2000, after at a high level of the inlet pulsations an almost laminar flow had developed in the pipe, a perturbation was introduced by inserting a diametrically oriented cylindrical rod with a diameter 10–20 times smaller than the pipe diameter. In these experiments, at Reynolds numbers higher than 1000, at a distance from the rod equal to 50 pipe diameters the axial to mean-flow velocity ratio was less than 2, approaching this value again at large distances from the rod. The insertion of the rod led to a decrease in the critical Reynolds number by approximately 12%.     

Control of mean and fluctuating forces on a circular cylinder at high Reynolds numbers

A narrow strip is used to control mean and fluctuating forces on a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers from 2.0 × 10⁴ to 1.0 × 10⁵. The axes of the strip and cylinder are parallel. The control parameters are strip width ratio and strip position characterized by angle of attack and distance from the cylinder. Wind tunnel tests show that the vortex shedding from both sides of the cylinder can be suppressed, and mean drag and fluctuating lift on the cylinder can be reduced if the strip is installed in an effective zone downstream of the cylinder. A phenomenon of mono-side vortex shedding is found. The strip-induced local changes of velocity profiles in the near wake of the cylinder are measured, and the relation between base suction and peak value in the power spectrum of fluctuating lift is studied. The control mechanism is then discussed from different points of view. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10172087 and 10472124). The English text was polished by Yunming Chen.     

Evolution of the Flow Field around a Circular Cylinder and a Sphere upon Instantaneous Start with a Supersonic Velocity

Evolution of the flow field around a circular cylinder and a sphere instantaneously starting with a constant supersonic velocity (M = 5 and Re = 10⁵) from the state at rest is studied by means of numerical integration of unsteady twodimensional Navier–Stokes equations.     

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Supersonic Flow Past a Slender Sharp Circular Cone at Incidence

Supersonic M4 flow past a slender sharp circular cone with semi-vertex angle _c =4° at small and moderate angles of attack is investigated both theoretically and experimentally over the Reynolds number range from 1.69·10⁴ to 13.62·10⁶. The theoretical analysis is based on the numerical integration of the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes and Reynolds equations, while the experimental study was carried out in a wind tunnel of the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute (TsAGI). The calculated and measured integral characteristics of the cone are compared.     

Transverse Decay of Solutions in an Elastic Cylinder

In a semiinfinite cylinder composed of anisotropic linearised elastic material, loaded on the base and clamped along the lateral surface, it is known that the solution as measured, for example, by the strainenergy flux through a plane crossection decays longitudinally at most exponentially with respect to the axial distance from the base. There is, however, also a transverse radial decay of the solution, again measured for example by the strainenergy, occurring from the region close to the cylinder's axis to the region near the lateral surface, where the energy vanishes.This problem is considered in the present paper which discusses a circular semiinfinite cylinder and derives an estimate for the strainenergy contained in a cylindrical annulus at a given distance from the base and of variable height, and whose outer surface coincides with the lateral surface of the cylinder. It is shown that the strainenergy decays at most algebraically to zero as the inner radius of the annulus increases to that of the cylinder.Sommario. E'noto che in un cilindro semiinfinito composto da materiale elastico lineare anisotropo, caricato sulla base ed incastrato lungo la superficie laterale, la soluzione elastica, misurata, per esempio, dal flusso di energia di deformazione attraverso una sezione trasversale piana, decade con legge al più esponenziale con la distanza dalla base. C'è tuttavia, anche un decadimento radiale della soluzione, misurato, per esempio, dall'energia di deformazione che passa dalla regione vicina all'asse del cilindro a quella vicin alla superficie laterale dove l'energia si annullaQuesto problema è qui studiato. Si discute in particolare un cilindro circolare semiinfinito e si deduce una stima per l'energia di deformazione contenuta in un anello cilindrico ad una distanza assegnata dalla base e di altezza variabile, e la cui superficie esterna coincide con la superficie laterale del cilindro. Si dimostra che l'energia di deformazione decade al più con legge algebrica a zero quando il raggio interno del cilindro si avvicina a quello esterno.     

Interactions between a rectangular cylinder and a free-surface flow

The salient features of the interaction between a free-surface flow and a cylinder of rectangular cross-section are investigated and discussed. Laboratory-scale experiments are performed in a water channel under various flow conditions and elevations of the cylinder above the channel floor. The flow field is characterized on the basis of time-averaged and fluctuating local velocity measurements. Dynamic loadings on the cylinder are measured by two water-insulated dynamometers placed inside the cylinder structure. Starting from frequency and spectral analyses of the force signals, insights on the relationship between force dominant frequencies and the Strouhal number of the vortex shedding phenomenon are provided. Experimental results highlight the strong influence of the asymmetric configuration imposed by the two different boundary conditions (free surface and channel floor) on (i) the mean force coefficients and (ii) the vortex shedding frequencies. We provide an analysis of the nature of the dependence of average force coefficients on relevant dimensionless groups, i.e., the Reynolds number, normalized flow depth and cylinder submersion.     

Reynolds Number Dependence of Energy Spectra in the Overlap Region of Isotropic Turbulence

A Near-Asymptotics analysis of the turbulence energy spectrum is presented that accounts for the effects of finite Reynolds number recently reported by Mydlarski and Warhaft [21]. From dimensional and physical considerations (following Kolmogorov and von Karman), proper scalings are defined for both low and high wavenumbers, but with functions describing the entire range of the spectrum. The scaling for low wavenumbers uses the kinetic energy and the integral scale, L, based on the integral of the correlation function. The fact that the two scaled profiles describe the entire spectrum for finite values of Reynolds number, but reduce to different profiles in the limit, is used to determine their functional forms in the “overlap” region that both retain in the limit. The spectra in the overlap follow a power law, E(k) =Ck _{−5/3 + μ}, where μ and C are Reynolds number dependent. In the limit of infinite Reynolds number, μ → 0 and C → constant, so the Kolmogorov/Obukhov theory is recovered in the limit. Explicit expressions for μ and the other parameters are obtained, and these are compared to the Mydlarski/Warhaft data. To get a better estimate of the exponent from the experimental data, existing models for low and high wavenumbers are modified to account for the Reynolds number dependence. They are then used to build a spectral model covering all the range of wavenumbers at every Reynolds number. Experimental data from grid-generated turbulence are examined and found to be in good agreement with the theory and the model. Finally, from the theory and data, an explicit form for the Reynolds number dependence of φ = ɛL/u ₃ is obtained. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.