Control of flow around a square cylinder at incidence by using a splitter plate

Passive control of vortex shedding behind a square cylinder at incidence has been conducted experimentally by using a stationary splitter plate for the Reynolds numbers of 3.0×10⁴. The splitter plate was located at the center of the rear face of the square cylinder in tandem. The width of the cylinder and the plate were both chosen to be 30 mm and the incidence angle of the square cylinder was rotated between 0° to 45°. In this study, the combined effects of the splitter plate and angle of incidence on the pressure distributions and vortex-shedding phenomenon were investigated. Vortex shedding frequency was obtained from velocity measurements and aerodynamic force coefficients acted on the cylinder were calculated from pressure distributions. Characteristics of the vortex formation region and location of the flow attachments, reattachments and separation were observed by using the smoke–wire flow visualization technique. For the case with the plate, there is a sudden jump in the Strouhal number in the vicinity of 13° which corresponds to a minimum value of the drag coefficient. At zero angle of incidence, Strouhal number and a drag coefficient of the square cylinder decreased about 20% by means of the splitter plate. Drag reduction was minimum at about 13° and reached its maximum value at about 20°.     

Particle image velocimetry study of parameter influence for synthetic-jet application

Flow separation control of a circular cylinder using a synthetic jet positioned at the front stagnation point is experimentally investigated by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The control results for different excitation parameters, including the stroke length, the excitation frequency, and the momentum coefficient, are compared to distill the essential control parameters, and the influence of the cylinder Reynolds number on the control effect is discussed. The separation control mechanism for the present control configuration is also revealed. It is suggested that the effective control ability of the synthetic jet is attributed to the increment of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and the dissipation rate surrounding the circular cylinder. High level of TKE enhances the dynamics of the fluids and thus flow around the leeward surface is endured a considerable vertical acceleration pointing to the centerline from both sides, which is more resistant to flow separation.     

高雷诺数下有限长圆柱绕流阻力特性研究

针对不同长径比的有限长圆柱模型,采用大涡模拟及雷诺平均的方法,对高雷诺数下有限长圆柱绕流阻力特性进行数值模拟和分析,得到了圆柱阻力系数随长径比和雷诺数的变化规律,讨论端面效应对绕流阻力系数的影响。结果表明：在亚临界区内,相同雷诺数下阻力系数随长径比的增大而增大,呈线性变化规律,L/D的对阻力系数的影响明显大于Re对阻力系数的影响;在阻力危机区内,相同雷诺数下阻力系数随长径比的增大而增大,呈二次函数的变化规律,但各工况达到阻力系数“转折点”对应的雷诺数各不相同,基本呈现随雷诺数的增大向前推移的趋势,Re对阻力系数的影响明显大于L/D对阻力系数的影响;在阻力回升区,阻力系数回升的“转折点”随着雷诺数的逐渐增大而向后推移。在各分区内,端面效应对阻力系数的影响随雷诺数增大而更加明显,在高度方向上的最大影响区域约占圆柱总高度的16%。研究结果对有限长圆柱绕流特性的研究及应用具有重要意义和价值。     

Numerical study of fluid force reduction on a circular cylinder using tripping rods

A numerical investigation on the effects of small tripping rods on the fluid force reduction on a big structure has been carried out using finite volume method where a configuration of a circular cylinder with two small tripping rods symmetrically placed very near to its front surface is studied. The diameter ratio of the rods and the cylinder is set at 0.08, 0.10 and 0.12, and the gap between the rods and the cylinder is fixed at 0.08 of the cylinder diameter. The angular position of the rods varies from 20° to 60°. The effects of the tripping rods on force reduction, vortex shedding frequency and flow separation have been examined for various arrangements of the rods with Reynolds number focused on 200 for laminar flow and 5.5×10⁴ for a turbulent flow. The results reveal that there exits an optimum position where the time averaged force coefficients acting on the cylinder all reach their minimum values and at the same time Strouhal number meets its maximum. At the optimum position the drag coefficient is reduced by 18% for Re=200 and 59% for Re=5.5×10⁴. Further investigation with tripping rods placed near the separation points is also carried out for Re=5.5×10⁴ and a considerable drag reduction is found.     

圆柱绕流气动流场在临界区的动力试脸研究

本研究以试验方式探讨了圆柱表面流场在雷诺数改变情况下的空气动力特性。试验首先测量临界区中基部压力随雷诺数的变化情形,再利用圆柱左右两侧±90°位置的扰动压力系数来判断圆柱流场进入单分离区的最低雷诺数,即可定义出圆柱流场在临界区及单分离区中雷诺数分布的范围,然后通过对瞬时频率的分析,由小波变换进行数据处理,进一步证实雷诺数分布的范围。     

串列三圆柱绕流的时均压力分布与气动力

运用刚性模型测压风洞试验方法对单圆柱、不同间距串列双圆柱和串列三圆柱绕流的时均压力分布与气动力进行了研究。首先,进行单圆柱模型和不同间距串列双圆柱模型的绕流试验,试验的雷诺数为3.4×104;其次,通过与单圆柱进行对比,讨论了气动干扰对串列三圆柱时均压力分布与时均阻力的影响规律;最后,通过与串列双圆柱进行对比,讨论了圆柱的数量对干扰规律的影响。试验结果发现,串列三圆柱的绕流存在两个完全不同的流态,其切换的临界间距(L/D)cr在3.5～4.0之间,两个流态下的时均压力分布与时均阻力存在明显的差异。本研究可对实际工程中串列圆柱结构的风荷载取值提供参考。     

Drag reduction for flow past a square cylinder through corner chamfering

This study investigates the unsteady incompressible flow around a square cylinder with different chamfer ratios (CRs) using a commercial finite volume code, ANSYS Fluent. CR ranges from 0.0 (sharp square cylinder) to 0.5 (diamond cylinder) with variable increments. Detailed analysis of flow characteristics is conducted at Reynolds number (Re) = 2100. Additionally, simulation is extended to cover Re, i.e., Re = 100, 500, and 10000. The simulation results show that cylinder with CR = 0.1 outperforms all other cases by enabling a drag reduction of about 60 % at Re = 10⁴. Drag has an inverse relationship with the wake closure length. Time-averaged coefficient of pressure, streamlines, and vorticity contours are also discussed to better understand near-wake features and the physics of drag reduction.

     

Experimental study of effects of circular-cross-section riblets on the aerodynamic performance of Risø airfoil at transient flow regime

New drag reduction methods have received much attention due to the importance of drag reduction in airplanes and wind turbines. One of the ways for drag reduction is the use of riblets. We investigated the effects of riblets on the aerodynamic performance of the Risø airfoil quantitatively. By installing a load cell and using the one-sided force measurement method, the drag and lift coefficients of the Risø airfoil were measured in two modes: With and without riblets at three different arrangements. The shape of riblets is a circularcross- section and the ratio of riblets’ diameter to the airfoil chord is equal to 0.005. The tests were carried out in transient flow regime (Two Reynolds numbers of 2.02×10⁵ and 1.4×10⁵), and at attack angles from 0 to 20 degrees. The results indicate that the extent of the riblets effect on the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil depends on the angle of attack, Reynolds number, and arrangement of the riblets on the airfoil. The maximum drag reduction at the Reynolds numbers of 2.02×10⁵ and 1.4×10⁵ is about 29.7 % and 54 %, respectively, that occurs at an attack angle of 7 degrees for both two Reynolds numbers.     

Flow structure in the downstream of square and circular cylinders

In this experimental work, a technique of digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) is employed to characterize instantaneous vorticity and time-averaged velocity, vorticity, root mean square (rms) velocities, Reynolds stress correlations and phase-averaged contours in the downstream of circular, sharp-edged square and 45^∘ orientated square cylinders in a uniform flow. Strouhal numbers for 550≤Re≤3400 are calculated from wake flow patterns. Shear layers surrounding the recirculation bubble region behind the cylinder are discussed in terms of flow physics and vortex formation lengths of large-scale Kármán vortices. Enhancement levels of Reynolds stress correlations associated with cross-stream velocity are clarified. Finally, flow structures depending on the cylinder geometry and Reynolds number are interpreted with quantitative representations.     

Spatial resolution effects on unsteady turbulent flow computations for the rectangular cylinders byκ-ε turbulence models

In predicting unsteady turbulent flows around a square cylinder usingκ-ε turbulence models, choice of right turbulence models was found to be critical. If a proper care is taken to choose a convection scheme and near-wall resolution, the conventional turbulence models may predict an unsteady turbulent flow at low Reynolds numbers with reasonable accuracy. A systematic computation is carried out to identify the effects of the aspect ratio of a rectangular cylinder and of the flow Reynold number on the spatial resolution requirement. It is found in general that the grid resolution requirement is more stringent for a cylinder with a smaller aspect ratio. By investigating high Reynolds number computations, the grid refinement in terms of viscous wall units is found unimportant in accurately predicting the unsteady aerodynamic forces on the cylinder. Instead, resolution of shear layers formed at the forward separation corners is found to be more critical.     

Numerical investigation of effects of buoyancy around a heated circular cylinder in parallel and contra flow

Two-dimensional, steady, incompressible Navier-Stokes and energy equations are expressed in the stream function/vorticity formulation and solved numerically by finite difference method to study effects of buoyancy on fluid flow and heat transfer from a horizontal circular cylinder. The cylinder is exposed to approaching flow stream, for parallel (parallel flow) and opposing (contra flow) directions to the buoyant force. Two different thermal boundary conditions were considered at the cylinder surface: constant temperature (CT) and constant heat flux (CHF). The results elucidating the dependence of the flow and heat transfer characteristics on the Richardson number 0≤ Ri ≤ 2, Prandtl number 0 ≤ Pr ≤ 100 and Reynolds number 0 ≤ Re ≤ 40 are presented. Overall, for parallel flow regime, an increase in the Ri led to a raise in both Nusselt number and drag coefficient. However, for contra flow regime, these trends were reversed. For both regimes, the aforementioned behaviors were more pronounced for CT boundary condition than that for the CHF boundary condition.     

Drag force control of flow over wavy cylinders at low reynolds number

Three-dimensional numerical simulations on the laminar flow around a circular cylinder with different diameter along the spanwise leading to a type of sinusoidal waviness, named wavy cylinder are performed at low Reynolds number. A series of wavy cylinders with different combinations of spanwise wavelength and wave amplitude are conducted at a Reynolds number of 100. The optimal range of wavelength and the effect of wave amplitude are obtained. The results show that the 3-D free shear layers from the cylinder are more difficult to roll up to vortex and hence the wake formation lengths of some typical wavy cylinders are larger than that of the circular cylinder and in some cases the free shear layers even do not roll up into vortex behind the cylinder. The mean drag coefficients of the typical wavy cylinders are less than that of a corresponding circular cylinder with the same mean diameter; also the fluctuating lift coefficients are reduced. The reduction of mean drag coefficient and fluctuating lift coefficient of wavy cylinder increases with the value of wavy amplitude. Furthermore, a typical wavy cylinder model at Re=150 is also simulated and found that the control of flow induced vibration by modifing the spanwise wavelength of cylinder has a relationship with the variation of Reynolds number.     

An experimental study on swirling flow behind a round cylinder in the horizontal circular tube

An experimental study is performed for turbulent swirling flow behind a circular cylinder using 2-D PIV technique. The Reynolds number investigated are 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000. The mean velocity vector, time mean axial velocity, turbulence intensity, kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress behind the cylinder are measured before and behind the round cylinder along the test tube. A comparison is included with non swirl flow behind a circular and square cylinder. The recirculation zones are showed asymmetric profiles.     

Numerical investigation on effects of rivulet and cable oscillation of a stayed cable in rain-wind-induced vibration

Rain-wind-induced vibration (RWIV) appeared on cable stayed bridges involves complicated fluid and structure interactions and its mechanism is not fully understood. It is believed that the upper-rivulet which is often seen when the RWIV occurs plays an important role. In this paper, a numerical investigation on the effects of the upper rivulet on the aerodynamic forces of the cable and the interaction between the fluid flow and the cable oscillation is carried out where the cable with the upper-rivulet is modeled by a circular cylinder with an arch attachment. The Reynolds number of 6.8×10⁴ is selected. The large-eddy simulation (LES) method with Smagorinsky-Lilly modeling is employed to simulate the 3-D turbulent flow field, and a moving mesh method is introduced to deal with the oscillation of the cylinder. The aerodynamic forces on the cylinder and the flow patterns around the cylinder are analyzed for both steady and oscillation status of the cylinder with the rivulet attachment in different position angle ranged from 0° to 60°. The results show that the aerodynamic forces on the cylinder change largely with the position angle of the rivulet attachment. In the steady cases, a uniform recirculation flow along the axial direction of the cylinder forms behind the cylinder; whereas in the oscillation cases, a 3-D periodical recirculation flow appears along the axial direction. The scales of these recirculation zones are influenced by both the position angle of the rivulet and the dynamic status of the cylinder. The results also show that there exists a rivulet position angle where the aerodynamic force on the cable and flow pattern around the cable both change dramatically. This critical position angle is found to be 45° for the cases studied.     

Unsteady boundary layer for a pitching airfoil at low Reynolds numbers

An experimental study was conducted in order to investigate unsteady boundary layers for a pitching airfoil. An NACA0012 airfoil sinusoid-pitched at quarter chord was employed, and its mean angle-of-attack and oscillation amplitude were 0° and 6°, respectively. To explore the unsteady boundary layers, smoke-wire visualization and surface-mounted probe measurements were pursued for three different cases, varying with Reynolds numbers (Re_c=2.3×10⁴, 3.3×10⁴, and 4.8×10⁴). A reduced frequency of 0.1 was identically set in all cases. Results show that in the presented Reynolds number range, the separation bubble dependent on both angle-of-attack and Reynolds number was observed, accompanied with unsteady laminar separation after reattachment. The unsteady laminar separation occurred at the saddle point, which was formed by the two vortices, the wall, and the external flow, and it was independent of reverse flow. This result indicates that the unsteady laminar separation occurs during the process of transition after the reattachment of separated boundary layer for an unsteady flow. The reverse flow observed over the trailing edge significantly interacted with the trailing edge vortex that rotates in the streamwise direction. This trailing edge vortex prevents the uppermost of the reverse flow from reaching to the unsteady laminar separation point during the upstroke, and this induces that the boundary layer breakdown does not occur in spite of the occurrence of laminar separation. The discrete vortices are formed by unsteady laminar separation, and its formation is ultimately affected by the Reynolds number. Consequently, it is obvious that the unsteady boundary layers are ultimately sensitive to Reynolds number in a low Reynolds number regime.     

Numerical solution of flow past two circular cylinders in different arrangement rotating in various directions

The combined effects of different rotation types and the Reynolds number on the flow past two rotating circular cylinders about their axes in different arrangement (Side-by-side and tandem) were considered at a range of 520 ≤ Re ≤ 1570 and 0 ≤ ω ≤ 4 (ω is the rotational speed) at one gap spacing of L/D = 2 for a side-by-side arrangement, ω = 0, 2000 ≤ Re ≤ 21000 and L/D = 2 and 4/3 for tandem arrangement (L and D are the distance between the centers of two cylinders and the cylinder diameter, respectively). The results show that the variation of both rotation speed and Reynolds number have an important role in changing the pattern of vortex shedding. As the rotational speed further increases, the separation phenomenon in the boundary layers disappears at the attachment rotational speed. Regardless of Reynolds number, as ω increases, the lift decreases for up and down cylinders while the drag decreases for up cylinder and increases for down cylinder. Quantitative information is highlighted about the flow variables such as the pressure coefficient the Stanton number, the skin friction factor and wall viscous coefficient of the cylinders.     

两种串列方柱气动性能的试验研究

针对两种布置形式（水平布置和对角布置）的串列双方柱,通过同步测压风洞试验,在雷诺数为Re = 8.0×104、间距比为P/B = 1.75 ~ 5.00（其中P为方柱中心间距、B为方柱边长）条件下,得到了两种布置形式串列双方柱的表面风压,重点研究了对角串列双方柱的气动力、风压分布、Strouhal数等气动性能随方柱间距的变化规律,并与水平串列双方柱进行比较。水平串列双方柱的气动力在P/B = 3.00 ~ 3.50时会发生跳跃现象,下游方柱的平均阻力由负值突变为正值,而对角下游方柱平均阻力系数则均为负值。结果表明：当P/B<3.00时,对角串列双方柱的平均和脉动气动力系数、最大平均负压强度和脉动风压系数均大于水平串列双方柱,而当P/B > 3.00时则情况相反;对角串列双方柱的Strouhal数明显小于相同间距下的水平串列双方柱,且在P/B <3.00时对角串列双方柱的升力功率谱出现了多个峰值。     

Comparison of flow characteristics around an equilateral triangular cylinder via PIV and Large Eddy Simulation methods

The flow structures around an equilateral triangular cylinder, which is commonly used as a vortex shedder in the vortex flowmeter, were investigated experimentally and numerically. Flow characteristics such as vorticity contours, patterns of sectional streamlines, velocity vectors, velocity fields, Reynolds stress correlations, Strouhal numbers and drag coefficients were examined using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique and the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model. Experimental studies were performed in an open water channel for Re=2.9×10³, Re=5.8×10³ and Re=1.16×10⁴ based on the equilateral triangle edge. A sharp-tip corner of the cylinder with a triangle cross-section was exposed to the upstream side while the other two sharp-tip corners were placed on the downstream side. Numerical studies were also completed at Reynolds numbers in the range of 2.9×10³≤Re≤1.16×10⁵ to obtain the changes in the Strouhal numbers and drag coefficients. When the results of PIV and LES are considered in the same interval of Reynolds numbers, the maximum and minimum values of each flow pattern were nearly the same. The time-averaged patterns had considerable symmetry with respect to the axis line passing through the sharp-tip corner of the cross-section of the triangular cylinder. The Strouhal number was independent of the Reynolds number and was found to be approximately 0.22. The drag coefficient decreased with increasing Reynolds numbers while increasing the Power Spectral Density (PSD) and the vortex shedding frequency. For the same Reynolds numbers, the experimental and numerical results were in good agreement. Therefore, the LES turbulence model is recommended for applications of flow around this type of bluff body that is generally used in the design of vortex flowmeters to generate vortex shedding.     

Numerical investigation of cross-flow around a circular cylinder at a low-reynolds number flow under an electromagnetic force

The effect of the electromagnetic force (or Lorentz force) on the flow behavior around a circular cylinder is investigated by computation. Two-dimensional unsteady flow computation forR _e =10² is carried out using a numerical method of finite difference approximation in a curvilinear body-fitted coordinate system by solving the momentum equations including the Lorentz force as a body force. The effect of spatial variations of the Lorentz forcing region and forcing direction along the cylinder circumference is investigated. The numerical results show that the Lorentz force can effectively suppress the flow separation and oscillation of the lift force of circular cylinder cross-flow, leading to reduction of drag.     

A numerical study on mixed convection in a lid-driven cavity with a circular cylinder

A two-dimensional numerical simulation is carried out in this study to investigate mixed convection in a lid-driven cavity with an isothermal circular cylinder. The simulation is conducted at three Reynolds numbers of Re = 100, 500, and 1000 under a fixed Grashof number of Gr = 10⁵. The top wall of the cavity moves to the right at a constant velocity and is kept at a low temperature of T _c , whereas the stationary bottom wall is kept at a constant high temperature of T _h . The immersed-boundary method, which is based on the finite volume method, is adopted for the boundary of the circular cylinder that is present in the square cavity. The present study aims to investigate the effects of circular cylinder on fluid flow and heat transfer in a cavity at different locations. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in the cavity strongly depend on the position of the circular cylinder as well as on the relative magnitude of the forced convection and the natural convection caused by the movement in the top wall of the cavity and the heating at the hot bottom wall, respectively.