Calculation of Incompressible Flow Around a Circular Cylinder

Abstract

Turbulence model and numerics used to predict tube bundle flow or fluid structure interaction should at least calculate correct drag and lift coefficient and Strouhal number for flow around a single cylinder and should waste as less CPU time as possible. The cmnmercial code CFX 4.4 is used for parameter variations to find out the best model and settings. Emphasis is put on complete documentation of all parameter settings used. In contrast to other researchers (e.g. Breuer 1998a, Breuer 1998b, Breuer 2000, Tremblay 2001), who simulate flow around a circular cylinder with enormous computational effort and still find deviations between their results and experimental data or DNS results, this paper turns its attention more on minimizing computational effort than on accuracy. The results presented here are solely evaluated by calculated Strouhal number, lift and drag coefficient, because they are most relevant for tube vibrations. In a first step variations are conducted for a 2D case at Re 4875. The variations include several two equation turbulence models, the Smagorinsky LES model, discretization schemes in space and time, size of time step, number of iterations, boundary conditions for turbulence quantities and different solvers. Afterwards the grid is coarsened as far as possible. In all cases just one parameter is changed compared to a reference calculation. Second, best parameter settings and 3 turbulence models are chosen to calculate cylinder flow at Reynolds numbers of 500 up to 1000000. The results for Strouhal number and drag and lift coefficient are compared with experimental data from literature. Selected 3D cases are investigated, too.Copyright © 2002 by ASME