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A numerical study of coherent flow structures around a cubic bluff body using large eddy simulation

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Abstract

Turbulent flow past a cubic bluff body confined in a channel is numerically investigated using large eddy simulation, as a turbulent model in a computational fluid dynamics simulation tool: the CFX5.1.7 software. The main objective of the present work is to identify the characteristics of coherent vortical structures produced by the presence of the wall-mounted cubic obstacles, including horseshoe vortex systems with upstream of the obstacle, lateral vortices in the vicinity of the lateral faces of the cube and hairpin vortices in the near-wake region. The results of the computational simulations show reasonable concordance with experimental data, especially for velocity profiles. An interesting result is picked up; the increase in the Reynolds number leads to the decrease in the vortex horseshoe. The thermal effect is also studied. The results show that the heat transfer is affected by the turbulence zone where is located the maximum intensity of turbulence.

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Abbreviations

A + :

Dimensionless constant used in the van driest damping function

C S :

Smagorinsky subgrid scale model coefficient

D hyd :

Hydraulic diameter

f (x i ,t):

Dynamical field

t :

Time

S t :

Strouhal number

u, v, w :

Velocity components in x, y, and z directions, respectively

x, y, z :

Cartesian coordinates

\(\bar{u}_{i}\) :

Resolved velocity components in x i directions

y + :

Distance from the wall in viscous wall units

Δ:

Filter width

Δt :

Time step

τ SGS :

Subgrid stress tensor at grid filter level

h :

Height of the cube

T p :

Temperature of the lower wall of the obstacle

P rs :

Relative pressure

K :

Turbulent kinetic energy

u′v′ :

Shear stress

ν :

Cinematic viscosity

ρ :

Mass density

Re :

Reynolds number

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Houari Boumedienne University, B.P. 32 El Alia, Beb Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria

    Sid Ali Sisalah, El Ghalia Filali & Djamel Cherrared

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  1. Sid Ali Sisalah
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  2. El Ghalia Filali
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  3. Djamel Cherrared
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Correspondence to Djamel Cherrared.

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Technical Editor: Francisco Ricardo Cunha.

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Sisalah, S.A., Filali, E.G. & Cherrared, D. A numerical study of coherent flow structures around a cubic bluff body using large eddy simulation. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 38, 827–842 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-015-0365-x

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