Numerical investigation of flow over tandem and side-by-side cylinders

Abstract

In the present paper, two-dimensional unsteady flows over circular cross-section cylinders are analyzed numerically. The effects of placement of the cylinders are investigated for two different arrangements: tandem and side-by-side. Several turbulence models are tested, and it is found that Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model is the best among one-and two-equation turbulence models. The most appropriate time step, which is one of the important parameters in unsteady simulations, is found as 0.002 seconds. After successful validations, the cylinders are positioned as side-by-side and tandem. The effects of the arrangement on flow regime, drag coefficient, lift coefficient and Strouhal number are presented for various distances between the cylinders. It is found that the flow is almost steady without any vortex in the gap when cylinders are in tandem and the gap between them is low. In contrast, the interactions are strong in case of side-by-side arrangement at the lowest gap. When the gap increases, the flow is affected that results in change on the global parameters.