Numerical simulation of flow past two circular cylinders in tandem and side-by-side arrangement at low Reynolds numbers

Abstract

A numerical simulation was used to compare the characteristics of flows past two cylinders in tandem versus side-by-side arrangements. Numerical experiments were performed at various Reynolds numbers and with different distances between the two cylinders. Diverse characteristics of flow, such as drag force, vortex shedding, and pressure distributions were investigated here. In tandem arrangement, at a certain distance, the drag coefficients of both cylinders change abruptly. However, at other distances, the drag coefficients vary somewhat linearly with the distance between cylinders. In side-by-side deployment, when the distance is more than three times the cylinders' diameter, the higher Reynolds number has a smaller drag coefficient (as in the case of a single cylinder). At points where the flow pattern, drag, and pressure coefficients change significantly, the critical spatial ratios between the two cylinders were determined at different Reynolds numbers. In addition to the study of such changes in flow characteristics, the effect of flow pattern on the pressure field and drag force coefficients, as well as their relationship, was also investigated.

Numerical investigation of flow around circular cylinder with splitter plate

“…In which, the drag coefficient decreases as Re increases. Relationship between C D and Re also shows a good agreement with the previous 196 Liu et al (1998) 1.31±0.049 0.192 Nc b = 160 (Vu et al, 2015) 1.38 0.191 Nc b = 240 (Vu et al, 2015) 1.33 0.186 Nc b = 320 (Vu et al, 2015) 1.303 0.182 a : laboratory experimental studies, Nc b : the number of grid cells on the cylinder. …”

“…Vu et al (2015) concluded that simulation with 240 grid cells around the cylinder provides the most reasonable computational results under Re = 200. In this study, beside the grid test was presented in Vu et al (2015), two grid resolution schemes with the number of grid cells around cylinder of 160 and 320 were tested under Re = 60 and 100. With these two mesh resolutions, the grid cells in the domain were 173760 and 215680, respectively.…”

“…The Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-w model was used for turbulence closure in this study. The reason is attributed to the improvement in SST k-w model in prediction the flow separation under adverse pressure gradient, which is important behavior of flow when it passes circular cylinder and ( Bardina et al, 1997;Vu et al, 2015). The continuity and momentum equations are as follows, (ANSYS, 2010):…”

“…A grid independency test around a single cylinder was presented by Vu et al (2015), Seo and Song (2012). Vu et al (2015) concluded that simulation with 240 grid cells around the cylinder provides the most reasonable computational results under Re = 200.…”

“…A grid independency test around a single cylinder was presented by Vu et al (2015), Seo and Song (2012). Vu et al (2015) concluded that simulation with 240 grid cells around the cylinder provides the most reasonable computational results under Re = 200. In this study, beside the grid test was presented in Vu et al (2015), two grid resolution schemes with the number of grid cells around cylinder of 160 and 320 were tested under Re = 60 and 100.…”