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This work performs a direct simulation on forced convection heat transfer of flow past a square cylinder in a channel with an upstream promoter. The promoter is small in size that the incoming flow...

In this study the two-dimensional flow over a square cylinder placed in between parallel plates is simulated numerically by using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) at low Reynolds numbers. Both the plates are obstructed by solid rectangular blocks of variable length. The fluid was allowed to flow between the parallel plates for Reynolds number (Re) from 75 to 150, and blockage ratio (g*) from 1 to 3. The numerical investigation does not simply yield the predictable primary region of recirculating flow connected to the obstructions; it also shows supplementary regions of the flow downstream of the single cylinder placed in a computational domain. These supplementary separation zones were not already described in the research. The numerical analysis shows that the flow downstream of obstructions and the single cylinder remained two-dimensional for Re varied from 75 to 150. Results available in previous research are reported and compared with both of the available experimental and numerical results for code validation with a single cylinder. Furthermore, the effects of various Re and blockage ratio on the lift forces and drag coefficient is analyzed. Under these circumstances, good agreement between experimental and numerical results are obtained. The hydrodynamic forces of the cylinder are strongly influenced by the spacing ratios.

This article introduces some soft computing methods generally used for data analysis and flow pattern detection in fluid dynamics. These techniques decompose the original flow field as an expansion of modes, which can be either orthogonal in time (variants of dynamic mode decomposition), or in space (variants of proper orthogonal decomposition) or in time and space (spectral proper orthogonal decomposition), or they can simply be selected using some sophisticated statistical techniques (empirical mode decomposition). The performance of these methods is tested in the turbulent wake of a wall-mounted square cylinder. This highly complex flow is suitable to show the ability of the aforementioned methods to reduce the degrees of freedom of the original data by only retaining the large scales in the flow. The main result is a reduced-order model of the original flow case, based on a low number of modes. A deep discussion is carried out about how to choose the most computationally efficient method to obtain suitable reduced-order models of the flow. The techniques introduced in this article are data-driven methods that could be applied to model any type of non-linear dynamical system, including numerical and experimental databases.

This paper proposes a method to identify low-pressure vortices with swirling motions around a vehicle by considering the two-dimensional pressure minimum. The existing sectional-pressure-minimum-and-swirl method combined with the finite difference method can be used to identify low-pressure vortices with swirling motions in homogeneous isotropic turbulence. To apply this method to the flow field around a vehicle, a method that extends the existing method to the finite volume method on unstructured grids and prevents the fragmentation of the vortex core lines was developed. To verify the proposed method, it was applied to the von Karman vortices of the square cylinder on the unstructured grids. The results indicate that the von Karman vortices, which involve low-pressure vortices with swirling motions, could be effectively captured using the proposed method. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the flow field around a vehicle. Compared with the existing method, the proposed method could better prevent the fragmentation of the vortex core lines. In addition, four known vortex structures around the vehicle could be identified by using the proposed method in combination with the isosurface method. Compared to other generally used methods in the field of vehicle aerodynamics, the proposed method could better identify the vortex core lines within a few minutes. These results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective for identifying the vortices around a vehicle.

The present paper reports numerical simulation of turbulent flow over a square cylinder using a novel scale resolving computational fluid dynamics technique named Partially-Averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS), which bridges Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) with Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) in a seamless manner. All stream-wise and wall normal mean velocity components, turbulent stresses behavior have been computed along the flow (streamwise) as well as in transverse (wall normal) direction. The measurement locations are chosen based on the previous studies so that results could be compared. However, the Reynolds number ( Re) of the flow is maintained at 21,400 and K– ω turbulence model is considered for the present case. All the computations are performed in OpenFOAM framework using a finite volume solver. Additionally, turbulent kinetic energy variations are presented over a wide range of measurement planes in order to explain the energy transfer process in highly unsteady turbulent flow field. The fluctuating root mean square velocities in the streamwise as well as in the wall normal direction have been discussed in the present work. It has been found that Partially-Averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS) model is capable of capturing the properties of highly unsteady turbulent flows and gives better results than Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS). The results obtained using Partially-Averaged Navier–Stokes (PANS) are quite comparable with Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data available in literature. The partially-averaged Navier–Stokes results are compared with our simulated Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) results, available experimental as well as numerical results in literature and it is found to be good in agreement.

The effect of cylinder alignment on the turbulent bursting events and sediment entrainment around submerged circular and square cylinder within the scour hole are investigated in the present study....

Particle image velocimetry is used to experimentally study the wake dynamics behind a near-wall square cylinder subjected to a thick oncoming turbulent boundary layer. The turbulent boundary layer thickness was 3.6 times the cylinder height (h) while the Reynolds number based on the freestream velocity and the cylinder height was 12,750. The gap distance (G) between the bottom face of the cylinder and the wall was varied, resulting in gap ratios (G/h) of 0, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0. The effects of varying the gap ratio on the mean flow, Reynolds stresses, triple velocity correlation, two-point autocorrelation, and the unsteady wake characteristics were examined. The results indicate that as gap ratio decreases, asymmetry in the wake flow becomes more pronounced, and the size of the mean separation bubbles increases. The magnitudes of the Reynolds stresses and triple velocity correlations generally decrease with the decreasing gap ratio. Moreover, the size of the large-scale structures increases with decreasing gap ratio, and the critical gap ratio, below which Kármán vortex shedding is suppressed, is found to be 0.3. The dominant Strouhal number in the wake flow expressed in terms of the streamwise mean velocity at the cylinder vertical midpoint increases as gap ratio decreases while that based on the freestream velocity is less sensitive to gap ratio for the offset cases (G/h > 0).

A numerical study is performed to analyze steady state forced convection fluid flow through a confined porous square cylinder. The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model is adopted for the porous region. The finite volume method and the iterative SIMPLE algorithm are used to solve the governing equations. The results obtained are presented for the streamlines, variation of Nusselt number and drag coefficient for the range of conditions as 5 ≤ Re ≤ 40 and 10−2 ≤ Da ≤ 10−6.

The flow-induced vibration of square cylinders under flow is known to be caused by two distinct mechanisms of interaction: vortex-induced vibrations and galloping. In the present paper we address the issue of the apparent suppression of galloping when the mass ratio between the solid and the fluid is low enough. By using a reduced-order model that we validate on pre-existing results, we show that galloping is actually not suppressed, but delayed to higher values of the flow velocity. This is explained using a linear stability analysis where the competition between unstable modes is related to the transition between vortex-induced vibration and galloping. Direct numerical simulations coupled with a moving square cylinder confirm that galloping can be found even at very low mass ratios.

In the present study, the effects of wall proximity on the wake dynamics behind a square cylinder subjected to a thick upstream turbulent boundary layer were experimentally investigated using particle image velocimetry. The Reynolds number based on the free-stream velocity and the cylinder height (h) was 12750 while the ratio of the turbulent boundary layer thickness to the cylinder height was 3.6. The gap distance (G) between the bottom face of the cylinder and the wall was varied, resulting in gap ratios (G/h) of 0, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 8.0. The flow topological differences among the various gap ratios were analyzed in terms of the mean flow and Reynolds stresses. The results show that as the cylinder approaches the wall, the mean flow becomes increasingly asymmetric about the horizontal centerline of the cylinder and the size of the mean separation bubbles in the cylinder wake increases. Also, the magnitudes of the Reynolds stresses decrease with decreasing gap ratio. For G/h > 0, the distributions of the streamwise Reynolds normal stress and Reynolds shear stress are concentrated along the upper and lower separated shear layers, resulting in characteristic double peaks. The distributions of the vertical Reynolds normal stress, however, are concentrated in the wake about the horizontal centerline of the cylinder and reveal only single peaks.

Unstable flow patterns around arrangements of bluff bodies in different engineering applications can give rise to pressure oscillations, leading to excitation of strong acoustic resonance that can interrupt operation. In certain conditions, flow fluctuations arising from vortex shedding downstream of a circular cylinder are reported to excite severe acoustic resonance. On the other hand, cylinders of a square cross section are known to be particularly susceptible to mechanisms that involve coupling between the flow and a structural mode. It is not documented, however, if such coupling would occur between an acoustic mode and flow fluctuations downstream of a square cylinder. In this work, the possibility of excitation of acoustic resonance due to coupling between unsteady flow downstream of a single square cylinder with an acoustic cross mode of a rectangular duct is experimentally investigated. During the experiments, acoustic resonance was self-excited. Measurements of the acoustic pressure and the flow velocity are carried out for a single square cylinder of an edge length of 25.4 mm. Results show that aeroacoustic response characteristics for this configuration are not completely analogous to the case of a circular cylinder, with a number of features not reported before. A brief summary of the results is presented in this work.

In this paper, effects of nondimensional distance between two square cylinders on the dissipation characteristics of the complex flow are investigated. The viscosity entropy generation rates around two serial square cylinders and the lift coefficient are analyzed to fully reveal the statistical features of the flow dissipation. Numerical results mainly show that the major viscosity entropy generation rate appears in the shear intersection region of the main flow and local stationary vortex. The viscosity entropy generation rate increases with increasing nondimensional distance ([Formula: see text]). The increasing slope of the viscosity entropy generation rate at a range of [Formula: see text] is greater than that of [Formula: see text]. It is also found that the viscosity entropy generation rate is kept as a constant when the nondimensional distance [Formula: see text] is greater than 5. At [Formula: see text], the effect of downstream square cylinder becomes negligible on the viscosity entropy generation rate. The fluctuating amplitude increases with increasing the nondimensional distance [Formula: see text]. The high-frequency peak is ascribed to the strong vortex shedding around the downstream square cylinder, and the low-frequency peak is ascribed to the weak vortex shedding around the up square cylinder at [Formula: see text]. Although our focus is mainly on the complex flow around two square cylinders, this work demonstrates the viscosity entropy generation rate with increasing nondimensional distance, which provides nice physical insight into understanding the local flow dissipation characteristics around the two serial square cylinders.

Natural convection has been extensively studied due to its presence in many engineering applications. It is one of the most important modes of heat transfer and arises due to buoyancy-induced flows resulting from temperature differences. This review presents a detailed summary of numerical and experimental studies related to laminar natural convection in enclosures with and without internal bodies. Square, circular, and elliptical cylinders are mostly considered as internal bodies. The presence of internal bodies makes significant changes in the flow characteristics within the enclosure. The effects on the flow regime and thermal fields of various parameters have been discussed in detail, including the Rayleigh number, aspect ratio, position of internal bodies, number of internal bodies, and inclination angle. The different flow regimes depending on the input parameters are categorized based on observations made from flow and thermal patterns. This review discusses various methodologies used by a large group of researchers to improve the hydrodynamic and thermal behavior for buoyancy-driven flows within an enclosure.

This work represents an investigation of the performance of characteristic numerical boundary conditions on the unconfined 2D mixed convective flow of air past a heated square cylinder gove...

Flow past a square cylinder has been studied extensively for over a century, because of its interesting flow features and practical applications. This problem is of fundamental interest as well as important in many engineering applications. The characteristics of flow around a square cylinder placed at symmetric condition are governed by the Reynolds number (Re). In the present study two dimensional simulations of flow past a square cylinder have been carried out for a Reynolds number of 21400. It has been studied numerically using the large-eddy simulation technique. The modeling of the problem is done by ANSYS 17.1 preprocessing software.

Flow passing a heated square cylinder is investigated using a hybrid LES-RANS approach on unstructured grids at a moderate Reynolds number of 22, 050. The effects of inflow turbulence on the flow f...

Unsteady RANS (URANS), hybrid LES/RANS and IDDES simulations were conducted to numerically investigate the velocity field around, and pressures distribution and forces over a square cylinder immersed in a uniform, steady oncoming flow with Reynolds number Re = 21,400. The vortex shedding responses in terms of Strouhal number, the pressure distribution, the velocity profile and the velocity fluctuations obtained by numerical simulations are compared with experimental data. Compared with 2D URANS simulation, 3D simulations using hybrid LES/RANS and IDDES models provide more accurate prediction on the responses in the wake, including mean streamwise velocity profile and rms velocity fluctuations. This also results in more accurate prediction of time-averaged surface pressure coefficient on the rear surface obtained by 3D hybrid LES/RANS and IDDES simulations than by URANS simulation. When a hybrid LES/RANS model or IDDES model is used, a more accurate prediction for either pressure coefficient or velocity profile (especially in the far wake region) is not guaranteed by increasing the mesh resolution along the spanwise direction of the square cylinder.

The “sliding-wall concept” has been introduced for the case of convective heat transfer past a square cylinder with an angle of incidence. Based on this concept, all walls of the cylinder t...

Traveling waves generated on the side surfaces of a square cylinder are employed to suppress the oscillating wake for improving the flow behavior around a square cylinder; this method is termed the...

The influence of Prandtl number on laminar, unsteady flow past a heated square cylinder placed in a free-stream has been studied computationally. The flow has been investigated for 0.02 < Pr < 100 at Re = 100 and Ri = 1. Effects of Prandtl number in unsteady mixed convection flow have been reported for the first time in the present study. The finite-volume based open source code OpenFOAM was used for the numerical simulations. An efficient algorithm (PIMPLE) has been used for the pressure-velocity coupling. Streamlines, isotherms, vorticity production and force coefficients have been studied in detail. The role of buoyancy on the baroclinic production has been discussed. Variation of lift coefficient with Pr was found to be quite interesting. The mean lift coefficient was found to be negative at low values of Pr but surprisingly it became positive at very high values of Pr.

Laminar forced convection heat transfer from 2-D flow over a square cylinder placed in a confined adiabatic channel is studied numerically. The governing equations are solved using unsteady stream function-vorticity method. The effect of volume fraction of the nanoparticles are tested for different Reynolds number in laminar range. Fluid dynamics and heat transfer results were reported for steady-state condition. Local Nusselt number and average Nusselt number are reported in connection with volume fraction and Reynolds number for blockage ratio of 0.25. Square cylinder?s front wall results maximum Nusselt number whereas rear wall shows smaller Nusselt number. Wall attached pair of vortices appeared rear side of cylinder for Reynolds number varying from 10 to 40 and volume fraction varies from 0.0 to 0.1. The size of symmetry vortices linearly increases when Reynolds number or volume fraction is increased. The drag coefficient is more pronounced to the variation in Reynolds number and volume fraction rather lift coefficient.

This 3D study deals with the effect that a low Reynolds number (Re) pulsating water flow has on both the heat transfer to the walls of a square section channel in which a square section prism was l...

Fluid dynamics and heat transfer behaviour are studied past side-by-side square cylinders at incidence in vertical flow arrangement numerically considering laminar, Newtonian, steady, incompressible and two-dimensional flow using Finite Volume Method based ANSYS Fluent solver. Using air (Pr = 0.7) as the working fluid, computations are performed at a representative value of Re = 100. The angle of incidence (alpha) is varied from 0 degrees to 45 degrees in the step of 5 degrees, whereas, the lateral distance between the cylinders is kept constant. To consider all possibilities, cylinders are rotated either clockwise or counter-clockwise, simultaneously or individually, which generates thirty-four different orientations. Buoyancy assisting phenomenon is created by changing the Richardson number (Ri) from 0 to 1 in step of 0.25. Due to the variation of the angle of incidence and its orientations, vortex generation is observed in the buoyancy assisting case at a critical value of Ri. To study heat transfer characteristics, time average and the local Nusselt number are analysed. For a fixed lateral distance between the cylinders, maximum heat transfer is found to occur at an incident angle of 45 degrees. Other important parameters, such as drag coefficient (C-D), lift coefficient (C-L), Strouhal number (St) are also studied. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Abstract] The phenomenon of turbulence is present in almost every type of flow in practical applications. Depending on its level of intensity and length scale, it can modify both the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance of a body under flow action. In wind tunnel tests, the desired turbulence level is achieved by placing obstacles, spires, grids and extra roughness generators upwind the tested model. On the other hand, when trying to reproduce turbulence effects by means of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach, two options have usually been considered: synthetic turbulence generation and the reproduction of velocity and pressure fluctuations recorded from previous simulations or wind tunnel tests. Another option, whose feasibility in CFD applications is addressed in this work by means of a 2D URANS (unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes) consists of placing a rod upstream of the studied body, near the stagnation line. This approach is based on the generation of small scale turbulence upstream of the studied body, so that the turbulent wake generated by an upwind rod impinges on the body located downwind. In the present study, by means of 2D URANS simulations, the smooth flow over a circular cylinder (the upwind rod) is studied focusing on its wake turbulence characteristics. Furthermore, the aerodynamic performance of a square cylinder, first under smooth flow, and later immersed in the turbulent wake of the upstream rod, are analysed. A substantial effort has been devoted in the verification studies of the numerical models. It has been found that the adopted numerical approach is able to reproduce the turbulent characteristics of the rod wake and assess the impact of the turbulent flow on a square cylinder, providing a promising agreement with experimental data. Xunta de Galicia; ED431C2017/72

This paper investigates the dynamic response of two freely rotatable rigid square cylinders to two-dimensional laminar flow in a microchannel. The square cylinders are laterally pinned side-by-side in the microchannel with a single freedom of rotation. Finite volume method coupled with a dynamic mesh technique is developed and validated to reveal the detailed motion characteristics of the cylinders and nearby flow structures. Under small Reynolds number (Re = 50), both cylinders oscillate periodically. The oscillate curves (rotating angle v.s. time) are symmetrical with each other but with a certain phase difference. At Re = 150, both cylinders oscillate randomly. Under high Reynolds number (Re = 300), the two cylinders both keep rotating in the opposite direction with the velocity magnitude fluctuating drastically around 1.75. Important motion details are presented to understand the Fluid-Structure interaction mechanism under different Reynolds number, including the time history of rotating angles and rotating velocities, lift and drag coefficients on the cylinders, distribution of pressure around the cylinder sides. Both pressure-induced torque and the shear induced one are obtained and their contributions to both cylinders’ rotation characteristics are quantitatively evaluated. Vortex structures and streamlines around the cylinders at specific moments are also revealed in this paper to help understanding the fluid-structure interaction phenomenon.

WOS:000453247900025 This study focuses on the computational implementation of structured non-uniform finite volume method for the 2-D laminar flow of viscoelastic fluid past a square section of cylinder in a confined channel with a blockage ratio 1/4 for Re = 10(-)(4), 5, 10 and 20. Oldroyd-B model (constant viscosity with elasticity) and the PTT model (shear-thinning with elasticity) are the constitutive models considered. In this study effects of the elasticity and inertia on the drag coefficients and stress fields around the square cylinder are obtained and discussed in detail. With an increase elasticity, drag coefficients get smaller due to stronger shear thinning effects for PTT fluid, however, the drag coefficients show slightly enhancement for the Oldroyd-B fluid.

WOS:000453247900020 The confined flow of a Newtonian fluid around a square cylinder mounted in a rectangular channel was investigated both numerically and experimentally. Ratio between the pipe and channel height, the blockage ratio, is kept constant at 1/4. The flow variables including streamlines, vorticity and drag coefficients were calculated at 0

A numerical investigation is conducted on the flow around and vibration response of an elastic square cylinder (side width $D$) in the wake of a stationary cylinder at Reynolds numbers of $Re=100$ and 200 based on $D$ and the free-stream velocity. The downstream cylinder, referred to as the wake cylinder, is allowed to vibrate in the transverse direction only. The reduced velocity $U_{r}$ is varied from 1 to 30. Cylinder centre-to-centre spacing ratios of $L^{\ast }(=L/D)=2$ and 6 are considered. Simulations are also conducted for a single isolated cylinder, and the results are compared with those for the wake cylinder. The focus is given to vibration response, frequency response, fluctuating lift force, phase relationship between the lift and displacement, work done and the flow structure modification during the cylinder vibration. The results reveal that the dependence of the Strouhal number $St$ on $U_{r}$ can distinguish different branches more appropriately than that of the vibration amplitude on $U_{r}$. The vibration response of the single cylinder at $Re=100$ is characterized by the initial, lower and desynchronization branches. On the other hand, that at $Re=200$ undergoes initial, lower and galloping branches. The galloping involves the characteristics of both the initial and the lower branches or the initial and the desynchronization branches depending on $U_{r}$. For the wake cylinder, the gap flow has a significant impact on the vibration response, leading to (i) the absence of galloping at either $Re$ and $L^{\ast }$, (ii) the presence of an upper branch at $Re=200$, $L^{\ast }=6$ and (iii) an initial branch of different characteristics at $Re=100$, $L^{\ast }=6$. The different facets are discussed in terms of wake structures, work done and phase lag between lift and displacement.

This paper examines the effects of thermal buoyancy on momentum and heat transfer characteristics of confined square cylinder submerged in incompressible power-law fluid. The detailed flow and temperature fields are visualized in terms of streamlines and isotherm contours. The numerical results have been presented and discussed for the range of conditions as (10 ≤Re≤ 40), Richardson number (0 ≤Ri≤ 1), and power-law index (0.4 ≤n≤ 1.2) at Prandtl numberPr= 50, at fixed value of blockage ratioβ= 25%. The results showed that the augmentation of the power-law index in the absence of thermal buoyancy causes a separation to diminish for the valueRe= 40. The thermal buoyancy delays the flow separation in different power-law indexes gradually and at some critical value of the buoyancy parameter it completely disappears resulting a creeping flow around a cylinder. Moreover, the recirculation length and skin friction are calculated to support the above finding. The decrease in the power-Law index promotes the heat transfer rate. The Nusselt numbers are computed to predict the heat transfer rates of power-law fluids under the superimposed thermal buoyancy condition.

The unsteady flow past a square cylinder with rounded leading corners is predicted at Re = 2600 by large eddy simulations (LES). The corner radius r is fixed at 3 mm and the cylinder width D is 12.7 mm, resulting in r /D = 0.236. Detailed comparisons are made between the two-dimensional (2D) and the three-dimensional (3D) results with previous experimental measurements [32, 33]. The results show that the Strouhal number agrees well with previous measurement [33], indicating that both 2D and 3D LES are capable of capturing the shedding of large-scale vortical strutures. The statistical quantities (e.g., the drag and lift coefficients, the time-averaged streamwise velocity, the root-mean-square of streamwise velocity and the Reynolds stress) were calculated and validated against experimental results [32, 33]. The 3D LES results show reasonable agreement with the experimental measurement [32, 33], while the results predicted by 2D LES deviate far from the experimental measurement [32, 33]. It is further demonstrated that the recirculation length and the vortex formation length are consistent with experimental results [33], while it is greatly shortened in 2D LES.

2D simulation is carried out to determine exactly the effect of blockage ratio on the flow and mixed convection heat transfer characteristics of Newtonian fluid across a square cylinder confined in horizontal channel, the numerical study is investigated in the range of these conditions:Re= 10 to 30,Ri= 0 to 1 and blockage ratioβ= 1/10 to 1/2. The flow structure and temperature field are visualized in terms of streamlines and isotherm contours. The total drag coefficient and average Nusselt number are also reported to show the combined effects of thermal buoyancy, Reynolds number and blockage ratio on the hydrodynamic flow forces and heat transfer rate. The obtained results showed that the effect of thermal buoyancy on fluid flow and heat transfer becomes more pronounced by decreasing the blockage ratio.

This work deals with the effect of thermal buoyancy on momentum and heat transfer characteristics of confined square cylinder submerged in Non Newtonian shear-thinning fluids. In two-dimension, the governing equations are solved by using the commercial code ANSYS-CFX. The effects of thermal buoyancy and power-law index, n, on the non-dimensional Drag coefficient and Nusselt number are studied for the conditions: Ri = 0 to 1, n = 0.3 to 0.9, Re = 40, Pr = 1 and blockage ratio β = 1/4. The detailed flow and temperature field are presented in terms of streamlines and isotherm contours. It is found that for all values of Richardson number increase in the power-law index increases the total drag coefficient and decreases the non-dimensional Nusselt number.

The natural ocean/river currents energy can be harvested using Flow Induced Motion (FIM) phenomena. The effect of damping-ratio and mass-ratio on Flow Induced Motion energy harnessing of a square cylinder are numerically investigated for Reynolds number 15500

A numerical study has been carried out to elucidate the effects of rounding the sharp edges on flow-induced forces on a square cylinder immersed in a laminar cross flow. Rounding reduces both the upstream stagnation pressure and the downstream base pressure. Consequently, competition between these two pressure reductions yields the minimum drag on the cylinder when its edges are partially rounded. It was also found that the leading-edge rounding is mainly responsible for the topological change thus the drag reduction, while the trailing- edge rounding alone just enhances lift fluctuation. However, trailing-edge rounding plays a role of stabilizing the flow when all of the four edges are rounded.

The prospect of harvesting energy from flow-induced vibration using an elastic square cylinder with a detached flat plate is experimentally investigated. The feasibility of flow-induced vibration to supply an adequate base excitation for micro-scale electrical power generation is assessed through a series of wind tunnel tests. The current test model of a single square cylinder is verified through a comparable pattern of vibration amplitude response with previous experimental study and two-dimensional numerical simulations based on the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS). In addition, a downstream flat plate is included in the wake of the square cylinder to study the effects of wake interference upon flow-induced vibration. A downstream flat plate is introduced as the passive vibration control to enhance the magnitude of flow-induced vibration and simultaneously increases the prospect of harvesting energy from the airflow. The study is conducted by varying the gap separation between the square cylinder and flat plate for 0.1≤ G/ D ≤3. The highest peak amplitude is observed for the gap G/ D = 1.2 with yrms/ D = 0.46 at UR = 17, which is expected to harvest ten times more energy than the single square cylinder. The high amplitude vibration response is sustained within a relatively broader range of lock-in synchronization. Meanwhile, for G/ D = 2 the vibration is suppressed, which leads to a lower magnitude of harvested energy. Contrarily, the amplitude response pattern for G/ D = 3 is in agreement with the single square cylinder. Hence, the flat plate has no significance to the wake interference of the square cylinder when the gap separation is beyond 3 D.