Direct numerical simulation of the flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder under various inflow conditions

The flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder of side d is investigated by means of direct numerical simulation (DNS). The effect of inflow conditions is assessed by considering two different cases with matching momentum-thickness Reynolds numbers Re_θ ? 1000 at the obstacle: the first case is a fullyturbulent zero pressure gradient boundary layer, and the second one is a laminar boundary layer with prescribed Blasius inflow profile further upstream. An auxiliary simulation carried out with the pseudo-spectral Fourier–Chebyshev code SIMSON is used to obtain the turbulent time-dependent inflow conditions which are then fed into the main simulation where the actual flow around the cylinder is computed. This main simulation is performed, for both laminar and turbulent-inflows, with the spectral-element method code Nek5000. In both cases the wake is completely turbulent, and we find the same Strouhal number St ? 0.1, although the two wakes exhibit structural differences for x > 3d downstream of the cylinder. Transition to turbulence is observed in the laminar-inflow case, induced by the recirculation bubble produced upstream of the obstacle, and in the turbulent-inflow simulation the streamwise fluctuations modulate the horseshoe vortex. The wake obtained in our laminar-inflow case is in closer agreement with reference particle image velocimetry measurements of the same geometry, revealing that the experimental boundary layer was not fully turbulent in that dataset, and highlighting the usefulness of DNS to assess the quality of experimental inflow conditions.     

Wake-boundary layer interaction behind an elliptic cylinder at different Reynolds numbers

In this paper, hot-wire anemometry (HWA) is used to experimentally investigate interactions between a fully developed turbulent boundary layer and wake of an elliptic cylinder where axis ratio (AR) of the cylinder is 2. The elliptic cylinder was located inside and outside a turbulent boundary layer with a thickness (δ) of 0.38B. Furthermore, experiments were conducted at different Reynolds numbers (13,250 and 26,500) based upon the smallest cylinder diameter (B). Mean velocity, turbulence intensity and higher-order central moments of velocity signals (i.e. skewness and flatness) measurements were performed using HWA upon wake-boundary layer interactions on a flat plate. Results showed that profiles of stream-wise mean velocity and turbulence intensity were greatly dependent on gap ratio (G/B) and Reynolds number (Re) in near-wake region. It was also observed that, except for G/B = 0.1, the wake-boundary layer interactions were faster at Reynolds number of 26,500 rather than 13,250. The interactions occurred earlier upon fluctuating the velocity rather than the case where a fixed mean velocity was considered. The results further show that an increase in the gap ratio increases Strouhal number almost independent of δ/B. Behind the cylinder, relatively smaller wake region was obtained at Re = 26,500 rather than Re = 13,250, where the velocity profiles quickly converged to the flat plate boundary layer velocity profiles.     

The sound generated by a square cylinder with a splitter plate at low Reynolds number

The generation of aerodynamic sound by the interaction of flow at a Reynolds number of 150 and a Mach number of 0.2 with a rigid square cylinder attached to a rigid thin flat plate is numerically investigated. When the length of the plate is varied from L=0.5D to 6D, where D is the side length of the square cylinder, the results can be grouped into three distinct regimes. For the first regime (L?D), the sound levels decrease with increasing plate length. A 3 dB sound reduction is obtained when the length of the plate is D. For the second regime (1.25D?L?4.75D), the sound levels increase with increasing plate length. For the third regime (5D?L?6D), the sound levels decrease as the length of the plate increases but the levels are higher than for the other regimes. Results also show that the lift fluctuation is the dominant sound source. These acoustic results can be explained in terms of the fluid mechanics occurring in the near wake of the cylinder.     

电磁力控制湍流边界层分离圆柱绕流场特性数值分析

在亚临界区高雷诺数Re=1.4×105下,采用脱体涡模拟结合湍流分离的方法对弱电解质中电磁力作用下湍流边界层分离圆柱绕流场及其升(阻)力特性进行了数值模拟和分析.结果表明,电磁力可以提高圆柱体湍流边界层内的流体动能,延缓圆柱体湍流边界层的流动分离,减弱圆柱体湍流绕流场中在流向和展向上大尺度漩涡的强度,减小圆柱体阻力时均值及其升力脉动幅值.当电磁力作用参数大于某个临界值后,湍流边界层流动分离消失,在圆柱体尾部产生射流现象,从而电磁力对圆柱体产生净推力作用,出现负阻力现象,而且升力脉动幅值接近于零,出现圆柱体升力消失现象.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of flow around two,three and four circular cylinders in close proximity

Cross-flows around two, three and four circular cylinders in tandem, side-by-side, isosceles triangle and square arrangements are simulated using the incompressible lattice Boltzmann method with a second-order accurate curved boundary condition at Reynolds number 200 and the cylinder center-to-center transverse or/and longitudinal spacing 1.5D, where D is the identical circular cylinder diameter. The wake patterns, pressure and force distributions on the cylinders and mechanism of flow dynamics are investigated and compared among the four cases. The results also show that flows around the three or four cylinders significantly differ from those of the two cylinders in the tandem and side-by-side arrangements although there are some common features among the four cases due to their similarity of structures, which are interesting, complex and useful for practical applications. This study provides a useful database to validate the simplicity, accuracy and robustness of the Lattice Boltzmann method.

     

Coherence and Reynolds stresses in the turbulent wake behind a curved circular cylinder

The turbulent wake behind a curved circular cylinder is investigated based on data obtained from a direct numerical simulation. Here, emphasis is placed in the assessment of two approaches for simplified modelling: reduced-order modelling (ROM) and Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. To this end, the instantaneous vortical structures, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the flow, and relevant Reynolds stress components have been analysed. The results show that despite the complexity of the instantaneous vortical structures, the wake dynamics are governed by the quasi-periodic shedding of primary vortices. Between 24% and 50% of the kinetic energy in the POD is captured by the two most energetic modes, and about 200 modes are needed to capture 90% of the kinetic energy. These findings suggest that, as long as the large-scale structures of the von Kármán vortex shedding are concerned, the present case can be approached by ROM; but a detailed representation of the flow dynamics without an eddy viscosity model that accounts for the unresolved turbulent fluctuations would require a large amount of degrees of freedom. Concerning the Reynolds stresses, their magnitude varies considerably depending on the depth at which they have been sampled. This dependence is related to the strength of the vortex shedding, and the intensity of the secondary flows induced by the curvature of the cylinder. As a consequence of the combination of these two effects, the correlation between streamwise and vertical velocity fluctuations is highest in the wake behind the midspan of the curved cylinder, and the correlation between cross-flow and vertical velocity fluctuations reaches large values in the lower wake.     

Modification of the wake behind a circular cylinder by using synthetic jets

Experimental tests were conducted to control the flow around a cylinder by means of unsteady blowing (synthetic jet) through a single slot disposed on the wall of the model. The flow Reynolds number (based on the diameter of the model) wasR _D=10₅. The efficiency of the synthetic jet is quantified in terms of delaying separation and modifying the drag coefficient. The investigations were of three types: measurements of the mean pressure distribution, wall visualizations of the separation line position and measurements of the mean flow-field in the wake.     

绕圆柱体自由表面磁流体流动和传热的研究

本文对在不同雷诺数下,绕圆柱体的磁流体自由表面流动及传热进行了模拟,分析了磁场对绕流圆柱尾迹和涡分离的影响,获得了两种雷诺数下的电磁力密度、流场和温度场分布。结果表明,磁场不仅影响了流动的形态,而且对湍流有抑制作用,降低了自由表面的更新机制,从而减少了传热能力;在相同的Hartmann数下,相比低雷诺数下的流动换热情况,高雷诺数下的湍流不能被完全抑制,自由表面与尾迹的相互作用也较强,因而自由表面换热也较强。     

On the Kelvin–Helmholtz and von Kármán vortices in the near-wake of semicircular cylinders with flaps

The signatures of the Kelvin–Helmoltz (K–H) and von Kármán (VK) vortices shed from a semicircular cylinder with flaps of length L/d = 0, 1/3, 1, 2, and 3 were investigated using hotwire anemometry. Here, L and d denote the flap length and diameter of the semi-circular cylinder, respectively. Experiments were performed at Reynolds numbers spanning one order of magnitude, Re ∈ [8.4 × 10³,?6.7 × 10⁴]. The results highlight the impact of the flow modulation through rigid flaps on the wake characteristics and dominant vortex shedding. The increase of flap length resulted in reduced mean shear in the near-wake, which influenced the onset and coherence of the K-H instability. Indeed, these motions are less likely to be present in the wake of the L/d = 3 case. The flaps also impacted the frequency of the VK shedding; the associated Strouhal number increased from 0.2 to 0.3 for flaps L/d ? 1. Only the cases without with the shortest flaps (L/d = 1/3) followed St = 0.2. There is a distinctive dependence of the f_{K ? H}/f_VK on Reynolds number and flap length. This ratio followed the well-known power-law relationship of circular cylinders in the case without flaps. However, the Reynolds number exponent decreased with increased flap length.     

POD analysis on the sphere wake at a subcritical Reynolds number

Abstract  

Flow characteristics of turbulent wake behind a sphere at a subcritical flow regime were experimentally investigated. The particle image velocimetry measurements and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modal analysis were employed to get detailed flow information such as the wavy structure, swirling motion and coherent structures of the sphere wake. The variation of turbulent intensities of the radial and circumferential velocity components showed the swirling motion of sphere wake in the cross-sectional planes. The relative contribution of the POD mode 1, 2 and 3 in eigenvalues was 26, 11, and 8%, respectively. The general pattern of velocity fields for the POD mode 1 in the near-wake region of x/d = 0.7–1.4 is similar with that of time-averaged mean velocity fields. In addition, the sweeping flow in the region from x/d = 1.5 to x/d = 2.0 possesses wavy structure of the sphere wake. The experimental results of the present study would contribute to the fundamental understanding of the turbulent near-wake behind a sphere.     

Finite element-based large eddy simulation using a combination of the variational multiscale method and the dynamic Smagorinsky model

A finite element-based large eddy simulation (LES) is proposed using a combination of the residual-based variational multiscale (RBVMS) approach and the dynamic Smagorinsky eddy-viscosity model. In this combined model, the cross-stress terms are modelled using the RBVMS approach while the eddy-viscosity model is used to represent the Reynolds stresses. The eddy-viscosity is computed dynamically in a local fashion for which a localized version of the variational Germano identity is developed. To improve the robustness of the local dynamic procedure, two types of averaging schemes are considered. The first type employs spatial averaging over homogeneous direction(s) which is only applicable to turbulent flows with statistical homogeneity in at least one direction. The second type is based on Lagrangian averaging over fluid pathtubes, which is applicable to inhomogeneous turbulent flows. The predictions from the combined model are compared to the direct numerical simulation or experimental data and also to the predictions from the RBVMS model. This is done for two cases: turbulent flow in a channel (Re_τ = 590) and flow over a cylinder (Re_D = 3, 900). For the turbulent channel flow, predictions are similar between the RBVMS model and the combined model. For flow over a cylinder, the combined model provides better predictions, specifically for fluctuations in the streamwise velocity and lift.     

Vortex generation in the cross-flow around a cylinder attached to an end-wall

A cylinder attached to an end-wall normal to its axis is a common feature of many practical flow systems, e.g. in turbo-machinery or when a bridge is supported by a pillar from the bed of a river. In this situation, the nominally two-dimensional boundary layer flow incident upon the cylinder develops strong three-dimensional features and a very pronounced vortex structure may arise in the upstream flow close to the wall. For the appropriate Reynolds number range, the upstream vortical structure is nominally steady and is commonly referred to as the “horseshoe vortex system”. In contrast, the flow downstream is unsteady and periodic over a wide range of Reynolds numbers and vortices aligned with the cylinder axis are shed at a regular frequency into the wake. The generation of both these vortex systems requires energy to be extracted from the incident flow with the result that the drag force on the cylinder is increased.This paper concentrates on the upstream region of the cylinder and discusses an investigation in which two-component Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) has been used to visualise the flow behaviour for a circular cylinder on a plane end-wall. The use of PIV has enabled two orthogonal velocity components to be measured in planes defined by the upstream flow direction and the axis of the cylinder. The third (out-of-plane) velocity component was then calculated by integrating the continuity equation. Subsequently, the velocity field information has been manipulated and converted into time-averaged information.Discussion of the measured results confirms that colour displays are an invaluable aid to understanding this complex fluid flow situation since they reveal substantially more information than grey-scale plots of the same data. In particular, the source of the horseshoe vortex system can be identified when colour plots of the time-averaged velocity and vorticity distributions are obtained. A limited amount of information on the unsteady vortex structures appearing in the end-wall region upstream of the cylinder is also presented. Finally, the experimental findings are discussed in relation to the results of previous workers.     

Self-similarity of far wake behind tandem of two disks

In this work we used digital particle image visualization (PIV) to experimentally establish the self-similarity of far wake behind a tandem of two disks of a diameter D (300 mm) with a common axis along the incident flow. The research was performed in a water flume (Re ≈ 2 · 10⁵) with variation of L, the longitudinal dimension of the tandem. The self-similarity of the velocity profile in the wake behind the tandem has been established; the level of turbulent fluctuations of the profile has been measured. Due to the influence of the second disk, the velocity deficit in the wake behind the tandem exceeded the corresponding value for a single disk, being independent of the distance between the disks (L = 4–8D). The velocity fluctuations behind the tandem did not differ much from the level of fluctuations in the case of a single disk up to a distance of forty calibers downstream, where the wake ceased to differ from the background of natural turbulent fluctuations of the incident flow. It has been found that the position of the second disk in the tandem affects the energy loss in the wake due to its expansion but does not influence the decay. The revealed patterns in the wake development behind tandems of bodies will enable optimization of construction of systems of repetitive elements and their movement in different flows.     

Flow characteristics around a square cylinder with changing chamfer dimensions

Abstract  

It is known that for a square cylinder subjected to uniform flow, the drag force changes with the angle of attack. To clarify the flow characteristics around a square cylinder with corner cutoffs, we measured the drag coefficient and the Strouhal number for changing chamfer dimensions. We analyzed the flow around a square cylinder with corner cutoffs by applying the RNG k–ε turbulent model, and investigated the surface flow pattern using visualization by means of the oil film and mist flow method. From these results, we obtained the surface flow patterns by the oil film method and numerical analysis. The numerical results agreed well with the experimental values. The drag coefficient of the square cylinder with corner cutoffs decreased suddenly at an angle of attack of about α = 0°– 10° when compared with the drag coefficient for a square cylinder. The minimum value of the drag coefficient for the square cylinder with corner cutoffs decreased by about 30% compared with that for the square cylinder. The drag coefficient of the square cylinder with 10% corner cutoffs was found to be smallest, since the wake area of this square cylinder was smaller compared with that of the other square cylinder.     

Effect of groove shape on flow characteristics around a circular cylinder with grooves

In the flow around a circular cylinder, a sudden decrease in the drag force occurs at a high Reynolds number, but the same phenomenon occurs at a lower Reynolds number in the case where there exist grooves or roughness on the circular cylinder surface. In this paper, in order to make clear the flow characteristics around a circular cylinder in the case of changing the shapes of grooves, the drag coefficient, pressure distribution, velocity distribution and turbulent distribution were measured. Moreover the flow around the cylinder was analyzed by applying the RNGk · ∈ turbulent model, and the surface flow pattern was investigated using the oil-film technique. From these results, it is clear that the drag coefficient of a circular cylinder with triangular grooves decreases by about 15% compared with that of a circular cylinder with arc grooves.     

Wavelet multi-resolution analysis of initial condition effects on near-wake turbulent structures

The effects of initial conditions on turbulence structures of various scales in a near wake have been investigated for two wake generators with the same characteristic dimension, i.e., a circular cylinder and a screen of 50% solidity, based on the wavelet multi-resolution analysis. The experimental investigation used two orthogonal arrays of sixteen X-wires, eight in the (x, y)-plane, and eight in the (x, z)-plane. Measurements were made atx/h (x is the streamwise distance downstream of the cylinder andh is the height of the wake generator) = 20. The wavelet multi-resolution technique was applied to decomposing the velocity data, obtained in the wakes generated by the two generators, into a number of wavelet components based on the central frequencies. The instantaneous sectional streamlines and vorticity field were thus ‘visualized’ for each wavelet component or central frequency. It was found that the behavior of large- and intermediate-scale structures depend on the initial conditions and the small-scale structures are independent of the initial conditions. The contributions from the wavelet components to the time-averaged Reynolds stresses and vorticity were estimated. Both the large-scale and intermediate longitudinal structures make the most significant contributions to Reynolds stresses in the circular cylinder wake, but the contribution from the large-scale structures appears dominating in the screen wake. The relatively small scale structures of the circular cylinder wake contribute most to the total rms spanwise vorticity.     

On vortex shedding from a hexagonal cylinder

The unsteady wake behind a hexagonal cylinder in cross-flow is investigated numerically. The time-dependent three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved for three different Reynolds numbers Re and for two different cylinder orientations. The topology of the vortex shedding depends on the orientation and the Strouhal frequency is generally higher in the wake of a face-oriented cylinder than behind a corner-oriented cylinder. For both orientations a higher Strouhal number St is observed when Re is increased from 100 to 500 whereas St is unaffected by a further increase up to Re=1000. The distinct variation of St with the orientation of the hexagonal cylinder relative to the oncoming flow is opposite of earlier findings for square cylinder wakes which exhibited a higher St with corner orientation than with face orientation.     

Viscous near-wall flow in a wake of circular cylinder at moderate Reynolds numbers

Here we present the results of experimental investigation of a cross flow around a circular cylinder mounted near the wall of a channel with rectangular cross section. The experiments were carried out in the range of Reynolds numbers corresponding to the transition to turbulence in a wake of the cylinder. Flow visualization and SIV-measurements of instantaneous velocity fields were carried out. Evolution of the flow pattern behind the cylinder and formation of the regular vortex structures were analyzed. It is shown that in the case of flow around the cylinder, there is no spiral motion of fluid from the side walls of the channel towards its symmetry plane, typical of the flow around a spanwise rib located on the channel wall. The laminar-turbulent transition in the wake of the cylinder is caused by the shear layer instability.     

Vortex dynamics of a trapezoidal bluff body placed inside a circular pipe

The influence of Reynolds number and blockage ratio on the vortex dynamics of a trapezoidal bluff body placed inside a circular pipe is studied experimentally and numerically. Low aspect ratio, high blockage ratio, curved end conditions (junction of pipe and bluff body), axisymmetric upstream flow with shear and turbulence are some of the intrinsic features of this class of bluff body flows which have been scarcely addressed in the literature. A large range (200:200,000) of Reynolds number (Re_D) is covered in this study, encompassing all the three pipe flow regimes (laminar, transition and turbulent). Four different flow regimes are defined based on the distinct features of Strouhal number (St)–Re_D relation: steady, laminar irregular, transition and turbulent. The wake in the steady regime is stationary with no oscillations in the shear layer. The laminar regime is termed as irregular owing to irregular vortex shedding. The vortex shedding in this regime is observed to be symmetric. The emergence of separation bubble downstream of the bluff body on either side is another interesting feature of this regime, which is further observed to be symmetric. Two pairs of mean streamwise vortices are noticed in the near-wake regime, which are termed as reverse dipole-type wake topology. Beyond the irregular laminar regime, the Strouhal number falls gradually and vortex shedding becomes more periodic. This regime is named transition and occurs close to the Reynolds number at which transition to turbulence takes place in a fully developed pipe. The turbulent regime is characterised by a nearly constant Strouhal number. Typical Karman-type vortex shedding is noticed in this regime. The convection velocity, wake width formation length and irrecoverable pressure loss are quantified to highlight the influence of blockage ratio. These results will be useful to develop basic understanding of vortex dynamics of confined bluff body flow for several practical applications.     

Handling of temperature dependence of viscosity in problems of incompressible medium flow around a cylinder

The viscous incompressible medium (water, air) flow past a circular cylinder is considered with regard for the temperature T dependent viscosity v. The influence of different boundary conditions for temperature on flow structure, the drag coefficient and its components due to the pressure and viscosity is investigated in the problem of the flow past a cylinder at rest for the (diameter-based) Reynolds number Re_D = 40. A relation between the viscosity gradient along a normal to the body surface and the integral vorticity flux from the body surface into the boundary layer is discussed. Unlike the constant viscosity case the vorticity flux may be different from zero, which must lead because of the integral conservation law for the vorticity to an alteration of the far-field boundary conditions for the velocity. In the same connection, the problem is analysed on the heat spot entry into the computational region under consideration for the flow past a circular cylinder. The examples of the symmetrization of separated flow past a cylinder performing rotation oscillations in a uniform free stream (the Taneda problem) are considered. A comparison with flow computations for low Mach numbers M « 1 for the flow of a medium past a cylinder at rest is carried out. At the computation of the equation for heat transfer under the assumption of incompressibility of such media as air, it is proposed to retain the pressure derivative, which is typical of gases. In this case, a better agreement with the computations of compressible flows (for M « 1) is achieved, for example, at the determination of the sizes of a symmetric zone of flow separation past a circular cylinder. An unsteady flow in the neighborhood of the point of joining the zero streamline bounding a closed region of separated flow (the cavity) in a wake of the cylinder at rest is obtained by a numerical simulation at the Reynolds number equal to 40.