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.     

Influence of wall proximity on vortex shedding from a square cylinder

Mean and fluctuating surface pressure data are presented for a square cylinder of side length D placed near a solid wall at Re _D=18,900. One oncoming boundary layer thickness, d=0.5 D was used. Measurements were made for cylinder to wall gap heights, S, from S/ D=0.07 to 1.6. Four gap-dependent flow regimes were found. For S/ D>0.9, the flow and the vortex shedding strength are similar to the no-wall case. Below the critical gap height of 0.3 D, periodic activity is fully suppressed in the near wake region. In between, for 0.3< S/ D<0.9, the wall exerts a greater influence on the flow. For 0.6< S/ D<0.9, the mean drag and the strength of the shed vortices decrease as the gap is reduced, while the mean lift towards the wall increases. Evidence is presented that for S/ D>0.6 the influence of the viscous wall flow in the gap is not dominant and that, consequently, inviscid flow theory can describe changes in the mean lift as S/ D decreases. For 0.3< S/ D<0.6, the flow reattaches intermittently on the bottom face of the cylinder and viscous effects become important. Below the gap height of 0.4 D, periodic activity cannot be observed on the cylinder.     

Numerical simulation of shear effect on vortex shedding behind a square cylinder

This paper is concerned with the numerical simulation of the flow structure around a square cylinder in a uniform shear flow. The calculations were conducted by solving the unsteady 2D Navier–Stokes equations with a finite difference method. The effect of the shear parameter K of the approaching flow on the vortex-shedding Strouhal number and the force coefficients acting on the square cylinder is investigated in the range K=0·0–0·25 at various Reynolds numbers from 500 to 1500. The computational results are compared with some existing experimental data and previous studies. The effect of shear rate on the Strouhal number and the force acting on the cylinder has a tendency to reduce the oscillation. The Strouhal number, mean drag and amplitude of the fluctuating force tend to decrease as the shear rate increases, but show no significant change at low shear rate. Increasing the Reynolds number decreases the Strouhal number and increases the force acting on the cylinder. At high shear rate the shedding frequencies of the fluctuating drag and lift coefficients are identical. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influences of suction and blowing on vortex shedding behind a square cylinder in a channel

The structure of confined wakes behind a square cylinder in a channel subject to a locally uniform suction or blowing at both the channel walls is presented. A pressure based finite-difference technique has been used to solve the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations. It is observed that the amplitude of the lift coefficient decreases with increase in the blowing velocity. Coefficients of drag also decrease for the application of uniform blowing and for a suitable value of the blowing parameter, the flow becomes steady and symmetric. The amplitude of the lift coefficients increases up to a certain limit of suction velocity and after that it suddenly decreases and flow becomes steady. Coefficients of drag also gives the same feature. Effects of the suction and blowing on the vortex-shedding region are analyzed in detail and presented graphically.     

Vortex shedding and surface pressures on a square cylinder at incidence to a uniform air stream

This article describes results of experiments on vortex-shedding frequencies and surface pressures of a square cylinder at non-zero angle of incidence. The range of Reynolds numbers was 2000–21 000, but the lower range was emphasized. For Reynolds numbers greater than 5300, the Strouhal number shows a similar trend with changing angle of incidence; that is, a rapid rise in Strouhal number occurs at an angle of around 13°. The occurrence of such a jump in Strouhal number was found to be associated with onset of the flow reattachment, bringing in a strong pressure recovery on the lower side face of the cylinder. For lower Reynolds numbers Re=2000–3300, the maximum Strouhal number occurs at a relatively higher angle of 17°. Around this angle, the pressure measurements exhibit a rather weak pressure recovery, suggesting a less firm shear-layer reattachment to the side face of the cylinder. The nature of the reattaching flow was further examined by spectral analysis of the fluctuating pressure coefficients measured on the lower side face of the cylinder.     

Further study on vortex shedding flow by a circular cylinder

In the present paper the mechanism involved in vortex shedding flows is investigated in detail. In the early stage of the unsteady separated flow the interaction between secondary vortices and primary vortices is quite strong. In the later stage of the flow, corresponding to the vortex shedding the recirculating flow region on each side of the aft body goes through such a cycle: growth-contraction-growth, the secondary separation occurs periodically rather than continuously. The reduction of circulation is taken into account in three cases with different decay factors to study its influence on the prediction of main flow characteristics. Results show that to simulate vortex shedding flow it is necessary to include the reduction of circulation to bring the calculated results into good agreement with experiments. An improved discrete vortex model is suggested in which both the secondary separation and the reduction are incorporated. The processes of vortex shedding, the forces prediction and other flow characteristics are given and some discussions are made. Porject is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Phase-resolved characterization of vortex shedding in the near wake of a square-section cylinder at incidence

The vortex formation and shedding process in the near wake region of a 2D square-section cylinder at incidence has been investigated by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV). Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is used to characterize the coherent large-scale flow unsteadiness that is associated with the wake vortex shedding process. A particular application of the POD analysis is to extract the vortex-shedding phase of individual velocity fields, which were acquired at asynchronous low rate with respect to the vortex shedding cycle. The phase of an individual flow field is determined from its projection on the first pair of POD modes, allowing phase averaging of the measurement data to be performed. In addition, a low-order representation of the flow, constructed from the mean and the first pair of POD modes, is found to be practically equivalent to the phase-averaged results. It is shown that this low-order representation corresponds to the basic Fourier component of the flow field ensemble with respect to the reconstructed phase. The phase-averaged flow representations reveal the dominant flow features of the vortex-shedding process and the effect of the angle of incidence upon it.     

Simulation of vortex shedding past a square cylinder with different turbulence models

This paper presents the results of numerical simulations of vortex shedding past a free-standing square cylinder at Re_D=22 000, obtained with different turbulence models. Using wall functions, the standard k–ε model is compared with a modification suggested by Kato and Launder (Proc. 9th Symp. Turbulent Shear Flows, Kyoto, 10-4-1 (1993)). In addition, both versions are used in a two-layer approach, in which the flow close to the cylinder is computed with a locally more suitable one-equation turbulence model and only outside the viscous near-wall layer with the two mentioned high-Re model versions. To allow a comparison, the simulations are performed first using the same computational domain and boundary conditions as in previous investigations. Then results are presented that were obtained on a computational domain and with boundary conditions more suitable for a comparison with the experiments. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymmetric vortex shedding flow past an inclined flat plate at high incidence

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the vortex shedding wake behind a long flat plate inclined at a small angle of attack to a main flow stream. Detailed velocity fields are obtained with particle-image velocimetry (PIV) at successive phases in a vortex shedding cycle at three angles of attack, α=20°, 25° and 30°, at a Reynolds number Re≈5,300. Coherent patterns and dynamics of the vortices in the wake are revealed by the phase-averaged PIV vectors and derived turbulent properties. A vortex street pattern comprising a train of leading edge vortices alternating with a train of trailing edge vortices is found in the wake. The trailing edge vortex is shed directly from the sharp trailing edge while there are evidences that the formation and shedding of the leading edge vortex involve a more complicated mechanism. The leading edge vortex seems to be shed into the wake from an axial location near the trailing edge. After shedding, the vortices are convected downstream in the wake with a convection speed roughly equal to 0.8 the free-stream velocity. On reaching the same axial location, the trailing edge vortex, as compared to the leading edge vortex, is found to possess a higher peak vorticity level at its centre and induce more intense fluid circulation and Reynolds stresses production around it. It is found that the results at the three angles of attack can be collapsed into similar trends by using the projected plate width as the characteristic length of the flow.     

Vortex shedding around a heated square cylinder under the influence of buoyancy

The influence of buoyancy on vortex shedding and heat transfer from a cylinder of square cross-section exposed to a horizontal stream has been studied.Unsteady Navier-Stokes and energy equations are solved numerically using a control volume approach. Flow field has been analysed for a wide range of Reynolds number (which is based on the cross-sectional height of the cylinder) and Grashof number with Richardson number between 0 to 1. Our results show that the centerline symmetry of the wake is lost and the cylinder experiences a downwards lift when the buoyancy effect is considered. Vortex shedding suppression doesnt occur in the present case in which the cylinder is exposed to a horizontal cross-flow. Heat transfer from the cylinder increases due to increase in Reynolds number and Grashof number.     

Steady forces on a cylinder with oblique vortex shedding

We present a curious situation of a fluid-flow wherein the body experiences non-fluctuating fluid-flow force despite being associated with an unsteady flow comprising of sustained vortex shedding. The flow past a circular cylinder at Re=100 is investigated. It is shown that the spatio-temporal periodicity of the oblique vortex shedding results in constant-in-time force experienced by a cylinder placed in uniform flow. On the contrary, parallel vortex shedding leads to fluid force that fluctuates with time. It is found that, both, the parallel and oblique shedding are linearly unstable eigenmodes of the Re=100 steady flow past a cylinder.     

Suppression of vortex shedding for flow around a circular cylinder using optimal control

Adjoint formulation is employed for the optimal control of flow around a rotating cylinder, governed by the unsteady Navier–Stokes equations. The main objective consists of suppressing Karman vortex shedding in the wake of the cylinder by controlling the angular velocity of the rotating body, which can be constant in time or time‐dependent. Since the numerical control problem is ill‐posed, regularization is employed. An empirical logarithmic law relating the regularization coefficient to the Reynolds number was derived for 60?Re?140. Optimal values of the angular velocity of the cylinder are obtained for Reynolds numbers ranging from Re=60 to Re=1000. The results obtained by the computational optimal control method agree with previously obtained experimental and numerical observations. A significant reduction of the amplitude of the variation of the drag coefficient is obtained for the optimized values of the rotation rate. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical study of vortex shedding from a rotating cylinder immersed in a uniform flow field

A numerical study is made of the unsteady two‐dimensional, incompressible flow past an impulsively started translating and rotating circular cylinder. The Reynolds number (Re) and the rotating‐to‐translating speed ratio (α) are two controlled parameters, and the influence of their different combinations on vortex shedding from the cylinder is investigated by the numerical scheme sketched below. Associated with the streamfunction (ψ)–vorticity (ω) formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations, the Poisson equation for ψ is solved by a Fourier/finite‐analytic, separation of variable approach. This approach allows one to attenuate the artificial far‐field boundary, and also yields a global conditioning on the wall vorticity in response to the no‐slip condition. As for the vorticity transport equation, spatial discretization is done by means of finite difference in which the convection terms are handled with the aid of an ENO (essentially non‐oscillatory)‐like data reconstruction process. Finally, the interior vorticity is updated by an explicit, second‐order Runge–Kutta method. Present computations fall into two categories. One with Re=10³ and α≤3; the other with Re=10⁴ and α≤2. Comparisons with other numerical or physical experiments are included. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suppression of vortex shedding from a rectangular cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Small elements of circular, square, triangular and thin-strip cross-sections are used to suppress vortex shedding from a rectangular cylinder of stream-wise to transverse scale ratio L/B=3.0 at Reynolds numbers in the range of Re=V_∞B/ν=75–130, where V_∞ is the on-coming velocity of the stream, and ν is the kinematic viscosity. The relative transverse dimension of the small element b/B is fixed at 0.2. The results of numerical simulation and visualization experiment show that, vortex shedding from both sides of the cylinder can be suppressed and the fluctuating drag and lift of the cylinder can be greatly reduced, if the element is placed in a certain region referred to as the effective zone. Comparisons at a specific Reynolds number indicate that the square element produces the largest size of the effective zone, whereas the triangular element yields the smallest. Results also show that the effective zone for the square element shrinks with increasing Re and disappears at Re>130. Independent of element cross-section shape and Reynolds number, the center of the effective zone is always at X/B=2.5–3.0 and Y/B≈1.0. The mechanism of the suppression is discussed from the view points of velocity profile stability and stress distribution.     

Feedback control of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder

This paper presents an experimental study on the suppressing of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder by feedback sound. Experiments were performed in a wind tunnel, and the feedback sound was generated inside the cylinder and locally introduced into the flow through a thin slit on the cylinder surface. In this way, the shear flow nearest to the slit was directly manipulated during the control. The results show that the suppression of vortex shedding can be achieved at Reynolds numbers ranging from 4×10³ to 1.3× 10⁴, according to signals from a hot-wire checking throughout the wake and signals from a remote microphone. This local and one-sided feedback, being different from other control techniques, allows a better understanding of the control mechanism, which in this case probably causes a destructive interaction between two shear flows separated from both sides of the cylinder. The technique has been useful to deepen our understanding to the wake instabilities behind the cylinder.This work was done when the author was a visiting Scientist at the Institute of Technical Acoustics, Technical University Berlin. The author wishes to express his gratitude to Prof. M. Heckl and Prof. M. Möser for the arrangement and encouragement in this research. The help from Mr. M. Hansen in the experiment is acknowledged. Thanks also go to the German Science Foundation for the financial support.     

Feedback control of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder by cross-flow cylinder oscillations

Feedback control of vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in a uniform flow at moderate Reynolds numbers is studied experimentally with the cylinder subjected to feedback cylinder oscillations in cross-flow direction. The cylinder oscillation is digitally phase shifted with respect to the shedding vortex and is controlled by velocity feedback from the shear layer of the cylinder wake. Possible attenuation of vortex shedding is demonstrated by hot-wire measurements of the flow field and its mechanisms are studied by simultaneous data sampling and flow visualization with the smoke wire method and a laser-sheet illumination technique. Measurement results reveal substantial reduction in the fluctuating reference velocity at the optimum phase control. Flow visualization study indicates that the shear layer roll-up and the eventual vortex formation are dynamically attenuated under the control which results in a modification of the near wake.List of symbols A amplitude of cylinder oscillation - D cylinder diameter - E _u power spectrum function for fluctuating velocity u - frequency - R radius of circular cylinder - t time - u streamwise mean velocity - u streamwise fluctuating velocity - U streamwise mean velocity of main flow - u _r mean reference velocity - u _r fluctuating reference velocity - u _rf fluctuating reference velocity after filtering - y _c cylinder displacement - x, y, z coordinates from the cylinder center (Fig. 1) - feedback coefficient - phase lag The authors would like to express thanks to Professor K. Nagaya for his advice for designing electromagnetic actuators in the present experiments.     

Regimes of vortex shedding from an in-line oscillating circular cylinder in the uniform flow

A finite volume method for the time dependent viscous incompressible flow around an in-line oscillating circular cylinder at Reynolds number of 200, 855 is presented in this paper. The Navier-Stokes equations in a finite volume form are solved with a moving grid system, based on a time dependent coordinate transformation. To investigate the vortex-shedding characteristics behind the circular cylinder and the effects of Reynolds number and other non-dimensional parameters such as reduced amplitude and reduced frequency， several numerical schemes have been tested with different amplitude and frequency close to Sto and a harmonic at each Reynolds number. Present numerical results indicate several types of vortex shedding mode which is known mainly depending on the reduced frequency and also the reduced amplitude, which is called synchronization or lock-on.     

Vortex shedding from a square cylinder in presence of a moving wall

A numerical study on the flow past a square cylinder placed parallel to a wall, which is moving at the speed of the far field has been made. Flow has been investigated in the laminar Reynolds number (based on the cylinder length) range. We have studied the flow field for different values of the cylinder to wall separation length. The governing unsteady Navier–Stokes equations are discretized through the finite volume method on a staggered grid system. A SIMPLE type of algorithm has been used to compute the discretized equations iteratively. A shear layer of negative vortex generates along the surface of the wall, which influences the vortex shedding behind the cylinder. The flow‐field is distinct from the flow in presence of a stationary wall. An alternate vortex shedding occurs for all values of gap height in the unsteady regime of the flow. The strong positive vortex pushes the negative vortex upwards in the wake. The gap flow in the undersurface of the cylinder is strong and the velocity profile overshoots. The cylinder experiences a downward force for certain values of the Reynolds number and gap height. The drag and lift are higher at lower values of the Reynolds number. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.