Numerical Investigation of Various Wake Patterns in Flow Past Two Side-By-Side Cylinders

Abstract

In the present research work, an incompressible unsteady viscous two-dimensional finite volume Navier–Stokes solver is developed to investigate flow past two-dimensional geometries. Two-dimensional analysis of flow past any arbitrary body geometry can lead to comprehensive parametric study so that the complete flow details can be captured. In the present solver, the full Navier–Stokes equations have been solved numerically in the physical plane itself by considering “Consistent Flux Reconstruction” technique on a collocated unstructured mesh comprising of triangular cells. A C-code has been developed to estimate the primitive variables and to analyze the flow characteristics. The flow characteristics around a single unconfined circular cylinder along with two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement at various gap ratios have been considered for the investigation. Streamlines and vorticity contours are plotted to visualize instantaneous flow field. Lift and drag coefficients and Strouhal number are computed in order to characterize the flow. Different types of wake patterns, like in-phase or anti-phase synchronized wake patterns and deflected wake patterns, are observed based on various gap ratios between cylinders. For a certain Reynolds number, the vortex shedding frequency from either of the cylinders in a side-by-side arrangement has been estimated to be identical.