Forced‐convection heat transfer from tandem square cylinders in cross flow at low Reynolds numbers

This paper presents the results of a numerical study on the flow characteristics and heat transfer over two equal square cylinders in a tandem arrangement. Spacing between the cylinders is five widths of the cylinder and the Reynolds number ranges from 1 to 200, Pr=0.71. Both steady and unsteady incompressible laminar flow in the 2D regime are performed with a finite volume code based on the SIMPLEC algorithm and non‐staggered grid. A study of the effects of spatial resolution and blockage on the results is provided. In this study, the instantaneous and mean streamlines, vorticity and isotherm patterns for different Reynolds numbers are presented and discussed. In addition, the global quantities such as pressure and viscous drag coefficients, RMS lift and drag coefficients, recirculation length, Strouhal number and Nusselt number are determined and discussed for various Reynolds numbers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.