Large eddy simulation of flow over a twisted cylinder at a subcritical Reynolds number

2014 ◽  
Vol 759 ◽  
pp. 579-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Hwan Jung ◽  
Hyun Sik Yoon

AbstractWe consider a twisted cylinder that was designed by rotating the elliptic cross-section along the spanwise direction, resulting in a passive control. The flow over the twisted cylinder is investigated at a subcritical Reynolds number (Re) of 3000 using large eddy simulation based on the finite volume method. For comparison, the flow past smooth and wavy cylinders is also calculated. The twisted cylinder achieves reductions of approximately 13 and 5 % in mean drag compared with smooth and wavy cylinders, respectively. In particular, the root mean square (r.m.s.) value of the lift fluctuation of the twisted cylinder shows a substantial decrease of approximately 96 % compared with the smooth cylinder. The shear layer of the twisted cylinder covering the recirculation region is more elongated than those of the smooth and wavy cylinders, and vortex shedding from the twisted cylinder is considerably suppressed. Consequently, the elongation of the shear layer from the body and the near disappearance of vortex shedding in the near wake with weak vortical strength contributes directly to the reduction of drag and lift oscillation. Various fundamental mechanisms that affect the flow phenomena, three-dimensional separation, pressure coefficient, vortex formation length and turbulent kinetic energy are examined systematically to demonstrate the effect of the twisted cylinder surface. In addition, for the twisted cylinder at $\mathit{Re}=3000$, the effect of the cross-sectional aspect ratio is investigated from 1.25 to 2.25 to find an optimal value that can reduce the drag and lift forces. Moreover, the effect of the Reynolds number on the aerodynamic characteristics is investigated in the range of $3\times 10^{3}\leqslant \mathit{Re}\leqslant 1\times 10^{4}$. We find that as Re increases, the mean drag and the r.m.s. lift coefficient of the twisted cylinder increase, and the vortex formation length decreases.

2016 ◽  
Vol 805 ◽  
pp. 656-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Keylock ◽  
Kyoungsik S. Chang ◽  
George S. Constantinescu

Owing to their frequent occurrence in the natural environment, there has been significant interest in refining our understanding of flow over dunes and other bedforms. Recent work in this area has focused, in particular, on their shear-layer characteristics and the manner by which flow structures are generated. However, field-based studies, are reliant on single-, or multi-point measurements, rather than delimiting flow structures from the velocity gradient tensor, as is possible in numerical work. Here, we extract pointwise time series from a well-resolved large eddy simulation as a means to connect these two approaches. The at-a-point analysis technique is termed the velocity-intermittency quadrant method and relates the fluctuating, longitudinal velocity, $u_{1}^{\prime }(t)$, to its fluctuating pointwise Hölder regularity, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}_{1}^{\prime }(t)$. Despite the difference in boundary conditions, our results agree very well with previous experiments that show the importance, in the region above the dunes, of a quadrant 3 ($u_{1}^{\prime }<0$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}_{1}^{\prime }<0$) flow configuration. Our higher density of sampling beneath the shear layer and close to the bedforms relative to experimental work reveals a negative correlation between $u_{1}^{\prime }(t)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}_{1}^{\prime }(t)$ in this region. This consists of two distinct layers, with quadrant 4 ($u_{1}^{\prime }>0$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}_{1}^{\prime }<0$) dominant near the wall and quadrant 2 ($u_{1}^{\prime }<0$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}_{1}^{\prime }>0$) dominant close to the lower part of the separated shear layer. These results are consistent with a near-wall advection of vorticity into a region downstream of a temporarily foreshortened reattachment region, and the entrainment of slow moving and quiescent fluid into a faster, more turbulent shear layer. A comparison of instantaneous vorticity fields to the velocity-intermittency analysis shows how the pointwise results reflect larger-scale organisation of the flow. We illustrate this using results from two instantaneous datasets. In the former, extreme velocity-intermittency events corresponding to a foreshortened recirculation region (and high pressures on the stoss slope of the dune immediately downstream) arise, and the development of intense flow structures occurs as a consequence. In the other case, development of a ‘skimming flow’ with relatively little exchange between the inner and outer regions results in exceedances because of the coherence associated with this high velocity, high turbulence outer region. Thus, our results shed further light on the characteristics of dune flow in the near-wall region and, importantly for field-based research, show that useful information on flow structure can be obtained from single-point single velocity component measurements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyu Guo ◽  
Hang Guo ◽  
Jian Hu ◽  
Kewei Song ◽  
Weipeng Zhang ◽  
...  

The deformation of the cylinder has been proved to greatly reduce the fluctuation of lift and the vortex-induced vibration. In this article, a new form of deformation mode for the smooth cylinder is proposed in order to reduce the vortex-induced vibrations, which can be applied to marine risers and submarine pipelines to ensure the working performance and safety of offshore platforms. Large eddy simulation (LES) is adopted to simulate the turbulent flow over wavy cylinders with three different twisted angles at a subcritical Reynolds number Re = 28,712. Comparing with the results of smooth cylinder, the maximum drag and lift reduction of wavy cylinder A3 with α = 40° can reach 17% and 84%, respectively, and the corresponding vortex formation length increases significantly, while the turbulence intensity decreases relatively. Meanwhile, the circumferential minimum pressure coefficient is greater than that of the smooth cylinder, which also provides a greater drag reduction for the cylinder. The surface separation line, turbulent kinetic energy distribution, and wake vortex structure indicate that the elongation of separated shear layer and wake shedding position is larger than that of the smooth cylinder, and the vorticity value in the near wake region decreases. A periodic vortex structure is generated along the spanwise direction, and a weaker and more stable Karman vortex street is reformed at a further downstream position, which ultimately leads to the reduction of drag and fluctuating lift of the wavy cylinder.


Author(s):  
Lara Schembri Puglisevich ◽  
Gary Page

Unsteady Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is carried out for the flow around a bluff body equipped with an underbody rear diffuser in close proximity to the ground, representing an automotive diffuser. The goal is to demonstrate the ability of LES to model underbody vortical flow features at experimental Reynolds numbers (1.01 × 106 based on model height and incoming velocity). The scope of the time-dependent simulations is not to improve on Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS), but to give further insight into vortex formation and progression, allowing better understanding of the flow, hence allowing more control. Vortical flow structures in the diffuser region, along the sides and top surface of the bluff body are successfully modelled. Differences between instantaneous and time-averaged flow structures are presented and explained. Comparisons to pressure measurements from wind tunnel experiments on an identical bluff body model shows a good level of agreement.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchuan Wang ◽  
Lei Tan ◽  
Binbin Wang ◽  
Shuliang Cao ◽  
Baoshan Zhu

Large eddy simulation (LES) approach was used to investigate jumps of primary frequency of shear layer flow over a cavity. Comparisons between computational results and experimental data show that LES is an appropriate approach to accurately capturing the critical values of velocity and cavity length of a frequency jump, as well as characteristics of the separated shear layer. The drive force of the self-sustained oscillation of impinging shear layer is fluid injection and reinjection. Flow patterns in the shear layer and cavity before and after the frequency jump demonstrate that the frequency jump is associated with vortex–corner interaction. Before frequency jump, a mature vortex structure is observed in shear layer. The vortex is clipped by impinging corner at approximately half of its size, which induces strong vortex–corner interaction. After frequency jump, successive vortices almost escape from impinging corner without the generation of a mature vortex, thereby indicating weaker vortex–corner interaction. Two wave peaks are observed in the shear layer after the frequency jump because of: (1) vortex–corner interaction and (2) centrifugal instability in cavity. Pressure fluctuations inside the cavity are well regulated with respect to time. Peak values of correlation coefficients close to zero time lags indicate the existence of standing waves inside the cavity. Transitions from a linear to a nonlinear process occurs at the same position (i.e., x/H = 0.7) for both velocity and cavity length variations. Slopes of linear region are solely the function of cavity length, thereby showing increased steepness with increased cavity length.


Author(s):  
Souvik Naskar ◽  
S. Sarkar

Abstract Modern commercial airliners use multi-element aerofoils to enhance take-off and landing performance. Further, multielement aerofoil configurations have been shown to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbines. In the present study, high resolution Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is used to explore the low Reynolds Number (Re = 0.832 × 104) aerodynamics of a 30P30N multi-element aerofoil at an angle of attack, α = 4°. In the present simulation, wake shed from a leading edge element or slat is found to interact with the separated shear layer developing over the suction surface of the main wing. High receptivity of shear layer via amplification of free-stream turbulence leads to rollup and breakdown, forming a large separation bubble. A transient growth of fluctuations is observed in the first half of the separation bubble, where levels of turbulence becomes maximum near the reattachment and then decay depicting saturation of turbulence. Results of the present LES are found to be in close agreement with the experiment depicting high vortical activity in the outer layer. Some features of the flow field here are similar to those occur due to interactions of passing wake and the separated boundary layer on the suction surface of high lift low pressure turbine blades.


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