An Investigation on the Steady and Unsteady Wake Flow Regimes and Aerodynamic Characteristics of the Trapezoidal Cylinders Using Immersed Boundary-Lattice Boltzmann Method

Abstract

Abstract In this study, the flow physics of the forward-facing (FF) and backward-facing (BF) trapezoidal cylinders (TC) subjected to two-dimensional, incompressible, and laminar flow is investigated using an in-house developed flexible forcing immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann solver. The Reynolds number (Re) is defined based on the cylinder's characteristic length D. For the steady and unsteady flow regimes, Re is varied in the ranges of 10–40 and 75–125, respectively. The TCs shape is varied by modifying its nondimensional axial H/D and transverse Y/D length scales, between 0.5 to 2 and 0 to 1, respectively. Here, TCs horizontal central axis is always aligned along the incoming flow direction. It is observed that the flow separation points on the FF-TC and BF-TC are strongly influenced by the geometric (H/D and Y/D) and flow parameters (Re). Based on the boundary layer separation point, we have categorized the wake flow regimes behind the FF-TC and BF-TC into four types. In addition, the effect of the geometric and flow parameters on the drag coefficient (Cd), vortex shedding frequency, and steady and unsteady wake characteristics are thoroughly investigated here. Furthermore, by performing nonlinear regression analysis, we have proposed a set of correlation equations for the Cd and Strouhal number (St), using which the aerodynamic characteristics of differently shaped TC can be derived in the considered Re range without performing rigorous numerical simulations or experiments.