| Abstract: | A numerical scheme is developed to obtain the flow field around one, two and five ellipsoidal objects inside a cylindrical tube. The scheme uses the Galerkin finite element technique and the primitive variable(u–v–p) formulation. The two-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations are solved numerically by using the direct mixed interpolation method. A Picard iteration scheme is used for the solution of the resulting system of non-linear algebraic equations. The computer code is verified by checking with known analytical solutions for the flow past a sphere. Results for the shear stress distributions along the ellipsoids, forces and drag coefficients are obtained for different geometric ratios and Reynolds numbers. Some of the intermediate computational results on the velocity fields developed are also reported. |
