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The paper reports on the prediction of the turbulent flow field around a three-dimensional, surface mounted, square-sectioned cylinder at Reynolds numbers in the range 104-105. The effects of turbulence are accounted for in two different ways: by performing large-eddy simulations (LES) with a Smagorinsky model for the subgrid-scale motions and by solving the unsteady form of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (URANS) together with a turbulence model to determine the resulting Reynolds stresses. The turbulence model used is a two-equation, eddy-viscosity closure that incorporates a term designed to account for the interactions between the organized mean-flow periodicity and the random turbulent motions. Comparisons with experimental data show that the two approaches yield results that are generally comparable and in good accord with the experimental data. The main conclusion of this work is that the URANS approach, which is considerably less demanding in terms of computer resources than LES, can reliably be used for the prediction of unsteady separated flows provided that the effects of organized mean-flow unsteadiness on the turbulence are properly accounted for in the turbulence model. Copyright © 2014 by ASME.

Two-dimensional laminar flow of a power-law fluid passing two square cylinders in a tandem arrangement is numerically investigated in the ranges of 1 < Re < 200 and 1 ≤ G ≤ 9. The fluid viscosity power-law index lies in the range 0.5 ≤ n ≤ 1.8, which covers shear-thinning, Newtonian and shear-thickening fluids. A finite volume code based on the SIMPLEC algorithm with nonstaggered grid is used. In order to discretize the convective and diffusive terms, the third order QUICK and the second-order central difference scheme are used, respectively. The influence of the power-law index, Reynolds number and gap ratio on the drag coefficient, Strouhal number and streamlines are investigated, and the results are compared with other studies in the literature to validate the methodology. The effect of the time integration scheme on accuracy and computational time is also analyzed. In the ranges of Reynolds number and power-law index studied here, vortex shedding is known to occur for square cylinders in tandem. This study represents the first systematic investigation of this phenomenon for non-Newtonian fluids in the open literature. In comparison to Newtonian fluids, it is found that the onset of leading edge separation occurs at lower Reynolds number for shear-thinning fluids and is delayed to larger values for shear-thickening fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of rounded corners on the aerodynamic forces and flow interference has been studied in detail for a uniform flow past two side-by-side arranged square cylinders. The Reynolds number (Re) based on the cylinder diameter (D) and free stream velocity (U∞) is 100. Numerical simulations are carried out for seven different transverse gap ratios (TID), each with a minimum, and maximum corner radius. An inbuilt finite difference code with staggered arrangement of flow variables is used to discretize the governing equations. The concept of immersed boundary method (IBM) is employed to simulate flow around rounded corners using the regular Cartesian grids. The computational code was validated for flow past an isolated circular cylinder, square cylinder, and two equal sized circular cylinders and the results were found to be in very good agreement with available literatures. In the present study, results in terms of the mean and rms values of lift and drag coefficients, Strouhal number, phase diagrams, and contours of streamlines and vorticity are presented. As the corner radius is increased, a reduction in the drag force is observed. There exists a significant effect of gap ratio and corner radius on the phase angle of lift and drag coefficients. Three different flow patterns, namely the single bluff body flow, biased gapside flow, and two independent bluff body flows, were observed from this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wake of a square cylinder at zero angle of incidence oscillating inline with the incoming stream has been experimentally studied. Measurement data are reported for Reynolds numbers of 170 and 355. The cylinder aspect ratio is set equal to 28 and a limited study at an aspect ratio of 16 has been carried out. The frequency of oscillation is varied around the Strouhal frequency of a stationary cylinder, and the amplitude of oscillation is 10-30% of the cylinder size. Spatial and temporal flow fields in the cylinder wake have been studied using particle image velocimetry and hot-wire anemometry, the former providing flow visualization images as well. A strong effect of forcing frequency is clearly seen in the near wake. With an increase in frequency, the recirculation length substantially reduces and diminishes the time-averaged drag coefficient. The time-averaged vorticity contours show that the large-scale vortices move closer to the cylinder. The rms values of velocity fluctuations increase in magnitude and cluster around the cylinder as well. The production of turbulent kinetic energy shows a similar trend as that of spanwise vorticity with the former showing greater asymmetry at both sides of the cylinder centerline. The instantaneous vorticity contours show that the length of the shear layer at separation decreases with increasing frequency. The effect of amplitude of oscillation on the flow details has been studied when the forcing frequency is kept equal to the vortex-shedding frequency of the stationary cylinder. An increase in amplitude diminishes the time-averaged drag coefficient. The peak value of rms velocity increases, and its location moves upstream. The length of the recirculation bubble decreases with amplitude. The reduction in drag coefficient with frequency and amplitude is broadly reproduced in experiments with the cylinder of lower aspect ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]