Numerical investigation of fluid-solid interaction for flow around three square cylinders

In this work, fluid-solid interactions are numerically investigated for flow around three equally/unequally spaced square cylinders using the lattice Boltzmann method. Two major trends of shear layers observed for equal gap spacings between cylinders: (i) without roll up (W), and (ii) with roll up (R). While for unequal gap spacings, four major trends of shear layers observed: (i) without roll up in both gaps (WW), (ii) without rollup in first gap and with roll up in second gap (WR), (iii) with roll up in first gap and without roll up in second gap (RW), and (iv) with roll up in both gaps (RR). g = 3 is found to be the critical equal spacing value. Also g = 1.5 is found to be suitable equal spacing in terms of minimum drag force. While the suitable unequal gap spacing combinations found in this study are (g1, g2) = (1.5, 0.5), (g1, g2) = (3, 0.5) and (g1, g2) = (5, 0.5). Results show that flow induced forces can be suppressed by suitable unequal gap spacing combinations

Rectangular Cylinder Orientation and Aspect Ratio Impact on the Onset of Vortex Shedding

Rectangular cylinders have the potential to provide valuable insights into the behavior of fluids in a variety of real-world applications. Keeping this in mind, the current study compares the behavior of fluid flow around rectangular cylinders with an aspect ratio (AR) of 1:2 or 2:1 under the effect of the Reynolds number (Re). The incompressible lattice Boltzmann method is used for numerical computations. It is found that the flow characteristics are highly influenced by changes in the aspect ratio compared to the Reynolds number. The flow exhibits three different regimes: Regime I (steady flow), Regime II (initial steady flow that becomes unsteady afterward), and Regime III (completely unsteady flow). In the case of the cylinder with an aspect ratio of 2:1, vortex generation, variation in drag, and the lift coefficient occur much earlier at very low Reynolds numbers compared to the cylinder with an aspect ratio of 1:2. For the cylinder with an aspect ratio of 1:2, the Reynolds number ranges for Regimes I, II, and III are 1 ≤ Re ≤ 120, 121 ≤ Re ≤ 144, and 145 ≤ Re ≤ 200, respectively. For the cylinder with an aspect ratio of 2:1, the Reynolds number ranges for Regimes I, II, and III are 1 ≤ Re ≤ 24, 25 ≤ Re ≤ 39, and 40 ≤ Re ≤ 200, respectively. The cylinder with an aspect ratio of 1:2 is found to have the ability to stabilize the incoming flow due to its extended after-body flatness. Generally, it has been found that a cylinder with an AR of 2:1 is subjected to higher pressures, higher drag forces, higher curvatures of cross-flow rotations, and higher amplitudes of flow-induced drag, as well as higher lift coefficients and lower shedding frequencies, compared to cylinders with an AR of 1:2. In Regime III, elliptic and vertically mounted airfoil-like flow structures are also observed in the wake of the cylinders

Effect of Reynolds numbers on flow past four square cylinders in an in-line square configuration for different gap spacings

In this paper two-dimensional (2-D) numerical investigation of flow past four square cylinders in an in-line square configuration are performed using the lattice Boltzmann method. The gap spacing g=s/d is set at 1, 3 and 6 and Reynolds number ranging from Re=60 to 175. We observed four distinct wake patterns: (i) a steady wake pattern (Re=60 and g=1) (ii) a stable shielding wake pattern (80≤Re≤175 and g=1) (iii) a wiggling shielding wake pattern (60≤Re≤175 and g=3) (iv) a vortex shedding wake pattern (60≤Re≤175 and g=6) At g=1, the Reynolds number is observed to have a strong effect on the wake patterns. It is also found that at g=1, the secondary cylinder interaction frequency significantly contributes for drag and lift coefficients signal. It is found that the primary vortex shedding frequency dominates the flow and the role of secondary cylinder interaction frequency almost vanish at g=6. It is observed that the jet between the gaps strongly influenced the wake interaction for different gap spacing and Reynolds number combination. To fully understand the wake transformations the details vorticity contour visualization, power spectra of lift coefficient signal and time signal analysis of drag and lift coefficients also presented in this paper