A numerical study of initial flow past an impulsively started rotationally oscillating circular cylinder using a transformation-free HOC scheme

Abstract

The initial development of the two dimensional viscous, incompressible flow induced by an impulsively started circular cylinder which performs time dependent sinusoidal rotational oscillations about its axis is investigated numerically. The investigation is based on the solutions of stream function-vorticity formulation of Navier-Stokes equations on non-uniform polar grids using higher order compact formulation. The numerical method is validated by comparing the computed results with existing experimental and numerical results for Reynolds numbers Re = 150 and 500. The effects of forced oscillation frequency f and peak rotation rate αm on the early development of the flow structure in the near wake region are discussed. Results are given for the initial development with time of the flow structure at the rear of the cylinder at Re = 200. The details of the formation, movement, closure points, and strengths of the vortices behind the cylinder are presented. The velocity profiles at different locations and vorticity profiles at the surface of the cylinder are also shown. The effect of increase in αm on the timing of the formation of the vortices, the closed wake length, and the thickness of the boundary layer is investigated.