On the flow behaviour of confined finite-length wavy cylinders

Confined aspect-ratio of 6 wavy cylinders with a mean blockage-ratio of 0.5 were studied using time-resolved particle-image velocimetry at a sub-critical Reynolds number of 2700. Wavelengths and wave amplitudes of 2–4 and 0.1–0.3 mean diameters respectively were investigated. Results show that vortices are generally shed from the wavy cylinder and channel walls regularly, reminiscent of the unsteady symmetric flow configuration in confined non-wavy cylinders. Furthermore, vortex formation lengths for confined wavy cylinders are generally shorter than their unconfined counterparts, though their variations with respect to geometrical changes remain consistent with unconfined flow conditions. Gross cross-stream flow behaviour does not differ significantly between confined and unconfined wavy cylinders, indicating that finite-length effects are independent of the present confinement. Confined wavy cylinder wake regions are more sensitive towards geometrical changes and a combination of small wavelength and large wave amplitude leads to significant suppression of coherent cylinder and wall vortex-shedding. This is supported by phase-averaged flow reconstructions derived from Proper Orthogonal Decomposition analysis. Lastly, larger wave amplitudes lead to redistributions of dominant flow energy further downstream and to higher mode numbers, which suggests a causal link to the formation of stronger and more coherent streamwise vortices.     

NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE BLOCKAGE EFFECTS ON VISCOUS FLOW PAST A CIRCULAR CYLINDER

In various numerical solutions of flow around bluff bodies the unbounded physical domain is replaced by a restricted computational one whose extent depends on the size of the computational grid network. The truncation of the solution domain in the cross-flow direction reduces the computer time required for the solution, but introduces numerical blockage effects which influence considerably the values of the various flow parameters. In the present paper the finite element solution of steady and unsteady flow around a circular cylinder at Re=106 is presented for blockage ratios of 0·05, 0·15 and 0·25. A boundary condition was tested for which the streamfunction values at the outer boundaries were those of the irrotational solution around a circular cylinder. The size of the standing vortices decreases with the blockage ratio when the flow is steady, while the spacing of the vortices decreases in both directions with increasing blockage ratio when the wake becomes unsteady. The hydrodynamic forces on the cylinder and the Strouhal number are magnified as the blockage ratio increases. The application of the streamfunction values derived from the irrotational solution at the outer boundaries reduced blockage effects only at high blockage ratio.     

A quantitative study of the flow around an impulsively started circular cylinder

The detailed flow structure behind an impulsively started circular cylinder has been investigated experimentally. The Reynolds number based on the steady state velocity and the diameter of the cylinder was 500 to 3,000. This work is unique in that unsteady spatial velocities were measured simultaneously by a quantitative visualization technique — Laser Induced Photochemical Anemometry (LIPA). The surface vorticity at g/q = π/2 and vorticity distribution behind the cylinder in the Lagrangian coordinates (i.e. coordinates fixed on the cylinder) were calculated from the measured velocities. The surface vorticity shows in the early stage of flow development a close agreement with the previous results obtained by analytical and numerical approaches. The large-field velocity and vorticity information provides an insight into the formation process of the vortices downstream of the cylinder. In addition to the quantitative information, the results of visualized flow pattern obtained by LIPA technique are also presented. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Twelfth Symposium on Turbulence, University of Missouri-Rolla, Sept. 24–26, 1990     

Numerical simulation on an interaction of a vortex street with an elliptical leading edge using an unstructured grid

An algorithm for a time accurate incompressible Navier–Stokes solver on an unstructured grid is presented. The algorithm uses a second order, three‐point, backward difference formula for the physical time marching. For each time step, a divergence free flow field is obtained based on an artificial compressibility method. An implicit method with a local time step is used to accelerate the convergence for the pseudotime iteration. To validate the code, an unsteady laminar flow over a circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of 200 is calculated. The results are compared with available experimental and numerical data and good agreements are achieved. Using the developed unsteady code, an interaction of a Karman vortex street with an elliptical leading edge is simulated. The incident Karman vortex street is generated by a circular cylinder located upstream. A clustering to the path of the vortices is achieved easily due to flexibility of an unstructured grid. Details of the interaction mechanism are analysed by investigating evolutions of vortices. Characteristics of the interactions are compared for large‐ and small‐scale vortex streets. Different patterns of the interaction are observed for those two vortex streets and the observation is in agreement with experiment. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

非定常流动的快速拉格朗日涡方法数值模拟

采用快速拉格朗日涡方法数值模拟有复杂旋涡运动的非定常流动. 利用离散涡元模拟旋涡的产生、聚集和输送过程. 拉格朗日描述法用来计算离散涡元的移动,而移动速度则利用广义毕奥-萨伐尔公式结合快速多极子展开法计算,修正的涡半径扩散模型用来模拟离散涡元的黏性扩散. 突然起动圆柱和大攻角下突然起动翼型的非定常有涡流动的数值模拟,及其与试验结果的对比验证了方法的有效性. 另外,大攻角下突然起动翼型的计算结果给出了翼型起动后吸力面旋涡的产生、发展,周期性非定常流动的形成,以及尾流旋涡结构等一些重要的流动特征.[关键词] 非定常流有涡流动快速涡方法      

Effects of an upstream inclined rod on the circular cylinder–flat plate junction flow

An inclined rod is installed upstream of a circular cylinder mounted on a flat plate to mitigate the horseshoe vortices in the junction flow. Smoke-wire visualization, hot-wire velocity measurement and surface pressure measurement are employed to study the effects of the inclined rod on the laminar and turbulent junction flows. The results show a properly placed inclined rod can significantly weaken the horseshoe vortices in front of the cylinder, depress the unsteady oscillation of the vortex system, change the separation position on the flat plate and narrow the wake of the cylinder. The inclined rod method provides a promising way to suppress the horseshoe vortices in the junction flow because of its effectiveness and its easiness to implement and adjust to fit different flow conditions.     

An inviscid model of unsteady aerofoil flow with fixed upper surface separation

Presented in this paper is a new method for the prediction of unsteady, incompressible separated flow over a two-dimensional aerofoil. The algorithm was developed from an existing unsteady potential flow model¹ and makes use of an inviscid formulation for the flow field. The aerofoil is represented by vortex panels of linearly varying strength which are piecewise continuous at the corners. Discrete vortices with finite cores are used to model the separating shear layers. Following a brief summary of unsteady separation modelling, the theoretical framework is presented and the subsequent numerical implementation is discussed in detail. Results are given for flows which tend asymptotically to the steady state and conclusions are drawn regarding the usefulness of the method.     

Tomographic and time resolved PIV measurements on a finite cylinder mounted on a flat plate

Tomographic and time resolved PIV measurements were performed to examine the 3D flow topology and the flow dynamic above the upper surface of a low-aspect ratio cylinder at Re ≈ 1 ×  10⁵. This generic experiment is of fundamental interest because it represents flow features which are relevant to many applications such as laminar separation bubbles and turbulent reattachment. At Re  ≈ 1 × 10⁵, laminar separation bubbles arise on the side of the cylinder. Furthermore, on the top of the cylinder a separation with reattachment is of major interest. The tomographic PIV measurement, which allows to determine all three velocity components in a volume instantaneously, was applied to examine the flow topology and interaction between the boundary layer and wake structures on the top of the finite cylinder. In the instantaneous flow fields the tip vortices and the recirculation region becomes visible. However, it is also observed that the flow is quite unsteady due to the large separation occurring on the top of the cylinder. In order to study the temporal behaviour of the separation, time resolved PIV was applied. This technique allows capturing the dynamic processes in detail. The development of vortices in the separated shear layer is observed and in addition regions with different dominant frequencies are identified.     

Centrifugal instability and the rib vortices in the cylinder wake

The physical mechanism for generation of streamwise vortices (or rib vortices) in the cylinder wake is numerically investigated with a finite-difference scheme. Rayleigh's theory of centrifugal instability for inviscid axisymmetric flow is extended to analyze the 2-D primary flows. Accordingly, an analytical dimensionless groupRay=−(r/v _θ)∂v _θ/∂r−1 is derived, wherev _θ represents the velocity of a fluid element relative to the oncoming flow,r is the local curvature radius of the element pathline. Centrifugal instability occurs whenRay>0. Stability analyses are carried out with this discriminant for primary flows at different time levels in a half shedding period of the von Kármán (or vK) vortices. Unstable areas are identified and the locations of rib vortices are coincident well with the unstable areas within the first wavelength of vK vortices behind the cylinder. The numerical results also show that rib vortices experience amplification in this region. It is apparent that centrifugal instability plays an important role in the generation of rib vortices in the cylinder wake. The project spported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Aerodynamic loading on a cylinder behind an airfoil

The interaction between the wake of a rotor blade and a downstream cylinder holds the key to the understanding and control of electronic cooling fan noise. In this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics of a circular cylinder are experimentally studied in the presence of an upstream NACA 4412 airfoil for the cylinder-diameter-based Reynolds numbers of Re_d=2,100–20,000, and the airfoil chord-length-based Reynolds numbers of Re_c=14,700–140,000. Lift and drag fluctuations on the cylinder, and the longitudinal velocity fluctuations of the flow behind the cylinder were measured simultaneously using a load cell and two hot wires, respectively. Data analysis shows that unsteady forces on the cylinder increase significantly in the presence of the airfoil wake. The dependence of the forces on two parameters is investigated, that is, the lateral distance (T) between the airfoil and the cylinder, and the Reynolds number. The forces decline quickly as T increases. For Re_c<60,000, the vortices shed from the upstream airfoil make a major contribution to the unsteady forces on the cylinder compared to the vortex shedding from the cylinder itself. For Re_c>60,000, no vortices are generated from the airfoil, and the fluctuating forces on the cylinder are caused by its own vortex shedding.     

Unsteady flow around impacting bluff bodies

The flow resulting from the collision without rebound of generic bluff bodies with a wall in a still viscous fluid is investigated both computationally and experimentally. Emphasis is on the case of a circular cylinder impact (two-dimensional geometry), but comparisons with the flow generated by the impact of a sphere (axisymmetric geometry) are included. For normal cylinder impacts, the two counter-rotating vortices forming behind the body during its motion continue their trajectory towards the wall after the collision, leading to the generation of opposite-signed secondary vorticity at the cylinder and wall surfaces. Secondary vortices forming from this vorticity at higher Reynolds numbers exhibit a short-wavelength three-dimensional instability. Comparison with the sphere impact reveals significant differences in the scales of the vortices after the collision, due to the additional vortex stretching acting in the axisymmetric geometry. This leads to a delay in the onset of three-dimensionality and to a different instability mechanism. Oblique cylinder impacts are also considered. For increasing impact angles, the wall effect is gradually reduced on one side of the cylinder, which favours the roll-up of the secondary vorticity and increases the rebound height of the vortex system.     

Application of a vortex method to free surface flows

Vortex methods have found wide applications in various practical problems. The use of vortex methods in free surface flow problems, however, is still very limited. This paper demonstrates a vortex method for practical computation of non-linear free surface flows produced by moving bodies. The method is a potential flow formulation which uses the exact non-linear free surface boundary condition at the exact location of the instantaneous free surface. The position of the free surface, on which vortices are distributed, is updated using a Lagrangian scheme following the fluid particles on the free surface. The vortex densities are updated by the non-linear dynamic boundary condition, derived from the Euler equations, with an iterative Lagrangian numerical scheme. The formulation is tested numerically for a submerged circular cylinder in unsteady translation. The iteration is shown to converge for all cases. The results of the unsteady simulations agree well with classical linearized solutions. The stability of the method is also discussed.     

Combined action of transverse oscillations and uniform cross-flow on vortex formation and pattern of a circular cylinder

This paper attempts to study the roles of lateral cylinder oscillations and a uniform cross-flow in the vortex formation and wake modes of an oscillating circular cylinder. A circular cylinder is given lateral oscillations of varying amplitudes (between 0.28 and 1.42 cylinder-diameters) in a slow uniform flow stream (Reynolds number=284) to produce the 2S, 2P and P+S wake modes. Detailed flow information is obtained with time-resolved particle-image velocimetry and the phase-locked averaging techniques. In the 2S and 2P mode, the flow speeds relative to the cylinder movement are less than the uniform flow velocity and it is found that initial formation of a vortex is caused by shear-layer separation of the uniform flow on the cylinder. Subsequent development of the shear-layer vortices is affected by the lateral cylinder movement. At small cylinder oscillation amplitudes, vortices are shed in synchronization with the cylinder movement, resulting in the 2S mode. The 2P mode occurs at larger cylinder oscillation amplitudes at which each shear-layer vortex is found to undergo intense stretching and eventual bifurcation into two separate vortices. The P+S mode occurs when the cylinder moving speeds are, for most of the time, higher than the speed of the uniform flow. These situations are found at fast and large-amplitude cylinder oscillations in which the flow relative to the cylinder movement takes over the uniform flow in governing the initial vortex formation. The formation stages of vortices from the cylinder are found to bear close resemblance to those of a vortex street pattern of a cylinder oscillating in an otherwise quiescent fluid at Keulegan–Carpenter numbers around 16. Vortices in the inclined vortex street pattern so formed are then convected downstream by the uniform flow as the vortex pairs in the 2P mode.     

Transition phenomena in the wake of a square cylinder

The transition phenomena in the wake of a square cylinder were investigated. The existence of mode A and mode B instabilities in the wake of a square cylinder was demonstrated. The critical Reynolds numbers for the inception of these instability modes were identified through the determination of discontinuities in the St–Re curves, and were found to have mean values of 160 and 204 for the onset of mode A and B instabilities, respectively. The spectra and time traces of the wake streamwise velocity component were found to display three distinct patterns in laminar, mode A and mode B flow regimes. Streamwise vortices with different wavelength at various Reynolds numbers were observed through different measures. The symmetries and evolution of the secondary vortices were observed using laser-induced-fluorescent dye. It was found that, just like the case of a circular cylinder, the secondary vortices from the top and bottom rows were out-of-phase with each other in the mode A regime, but in-phase with each other in the mode B regime. From the flow visualization, it was qualitatively proven that there is stronger interaction between braid regions in the mode B regime. At the same time, analysis of PIV measurements quantitatively demonstrated the presence of the stronger cross flow in mode B regime when compared to the mode A regime. It suggests that the in-phase symmetry of the mode B instability is the result of strong interaction between the top and bottom vortex rows. It was also observed that although the vorticity of the secondary vortices in the mode A regime was smaller, its circulation was more than twice that of mode B instability. Compared to primary vortices, the circulations of both mode A and mode B vortices were much smaller, which indicates that the secondary vortices most likely originate from the primary vortices. The wavelengths of the streamwise vortices in the mode A and B regimes were measured using the auto-correlation method, and were found to be 5.1 (±0.1)D, 1.3 (±0.1)D, and 1.1 (±0.1)D at Re=183 (mode A), 228 and 377 (both mode B), respectively. From the present investigation, mode A instability was likely to be due to the joint-effects of the deformation of primary vortex cores and the stretching of vortex sheets in the braid region. On the other hand, mode B instability was thought to originate from the “imprinting” process.     

MODELING THE UNSTEADY LIFT AND DRAG ON A FINITE-LENGTH CIRCULAR CYLINDER IN CROSS-FLOW

Semi-empirical models for unsteady lift and drag are developed to predict the spectral features of the unsteady forces on a finite-length, right circular cylinder in cross-flow. In general, the models consist of two parts; the spatial variation of r.m.s wall pressure on the cylinder, and the correlation lengths which describe the spatial extent of the correlation of the unsteady wall pressures. Experiments were conducted in a low noise wind tunnel as a function of cylinder diameter Reynolds number (19 200<Re<32 000) and the Strouhal number (0·05< St<3·33), to measure the statistics of the unsteady wall pressures on a model cylinder. These results are incorporated into the theoretical models, and predictions of the spectral characteristics of the lift and drag are made. The r.m.s. wall pressures on the cylindrical surface are found to have the largest amplitude near the cylinder end-cap, and on the rearward portion of the cylinder body. The high levels in these locations are attributed to the separated flow region over the end-cap. The circumferential and axial length-scales decrease exponentially with Strouhal number. Both length-scales exhibit maxima near the Strouhal shedding frequency of St=0·21. The axial length-scales are found to depend on the measurement reference location due to the three-dimensional flow and separated flow region near the end-cap. The unsteady lift and drag predictions using the models developed in this work agree well with previously measured unsteady force data measured on inertial hydrophones exposed to flow. The broadband unsteady lift is found to be greater than the broadband unsteady drag by nominally 3dB.     

用扰动涡方法模拟叶轮机内动静叶的相互作用

发展了一种研究叶轮机内动、静叶间的相互作用的新方法———扰动涡方法，它利用全三维的定常解为基础解，并由此给出非定常扰动场的初始解．为计算叶片对扰动场的响应过程，采用拉格朗日方法追踪扰动涡团的对流流动过程，用确定性涡方法来描述流体的粘性扩散过程．发展了代数湍流模型（Ｂａｌｄｗｉｎ Ｌｏｍａｘ湍流模型）在尾迹中的应用方法，克服了其它数值方法中无法准确捕捉尾迹中心线的运动轨迹，以及计算出的边界层外的湍流涡粘性系数偏大的缺陷．利用该方法计算轴流叶轮机内由于动、静叶间的相互作用而引起的非定常流动过程，与实验的对照表明，模拟结果与实验数据吻合得相当好，从而说明本文发展的方法是可信的，为更直观地描述尾迹等非定常因素的流动及叶轮机内的掺混问题提供依据．     

Time resolved analysis of steady and oscillating flow in the upper human airways

In this experimental study a thorough analysis of the steady and unsteady flow field in a realistic transparent silicone lung model of the first bifurcation of the upper human airways will be presented. To determine the temporal evolution of the flow time-resolved particle-image velocimetry recordings were performed for a Womersley number range 3.3 ≤ α ≤ 5.8 and Reynolds numbers of Re _D = 1,050, 1,400, and 2,100. The results evidence a highly three-dimensional and asymmetric character of the velocity field in the upper human airways, in which the influence of the asymmetric geometry of the realistic lung model plays a significant role for the development of the flow field in the respiratory system. At steady inspiration, the flow shows independent of the Reynolds number a large zone with embedded counter-rotating vortices in the left bronchia ensuring a continuous streamwise transport into the lung. At unsteady flow the critical Reynolds number, which describes the onset of vortices in the first bifurcation, is increased at higher Womersley number and decreased at higher Reynolds number. At expiration the unsteady and steady flows are almost alike.     

Stability of flow past a cylinder: Energy budget of eigenmodes

Global linear stability analysis of the flow past a circular cylinder at the onset of primary wake instability is carried out. The real and imaginary parts of the most unstable eigenmode, responsible for vortex shedding, are very similar but associated with a spatial shift in the vortex structures. This shift results in the convection of vortices that are observed in the unsteady flow, which is actually a consequence of global absolute instability. The kinetic energy density, associated with the most unstable eigenmode, is studied. At the onset of the instability the energy density of the disturbance field is found to be stronger in the far wake compared with the near wake. With increase in Re the region where the disturbance is strong moves upstream closer to the cylinder. However, the maximum value of the kinetic energy density of the disturbance lies outside the recirculation zone even for Re upto 100. A linearized mechanical energy equation for the time evolution of the kinetic energy density of the disturbance is utilized to examine the energy budget of the most unstable eigenmode at various Re. It is found that the most significant contribution to the growth rate of the disturbance arises from the transfer of the energy due to the strain rate of the base flow to the perturbation. The stabilizing effect of the viscous dissipation increases with increase in Re, but saturates for Re beyond ～70. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical prediction of vortex shedding behind a square cylinder

It is common knowledge that flow around bluff bodies exhibits oscillatory behaviour. The aim of the present study is to compute the steady two-dimensional flow around a square cylinder at different Reynolds numbers and to determine the onset of unsteadiness through a linear stability analysis of the steady flow. Stability of the steady flow to small two-dimensional perturbations is analysed by computing the evolution of these perturbations. An analysis of various time-stepping techniques is carried out to select the most appropriate technique for predicting the growth of the perturbations and hence the stability of the flow. The critical Reynolds number is determined from the growth rate of the perturbations. Computations are then made for periodic unsteady flow at a Reynolds number above the critical value. The predicted Strouhal number agrees well with experimental data. Heat transfer from the cylinder is also studied for the unsteady laminar flow.     

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.