Effect of spanwise shear on flow past a square cylinder at intermediate Reynolds numbers

Abstract

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of flow past a square cylinder with linear spanwise shear has been performed in the Reynolds numbers range of 165-250. Navier-Stokes equations are discretized using second order central differencing for both advection and diffusion terms, explicitly marching in time using the second order Adams-Bashforth scheme. The solution methodology used is the Simplified Marker and Cell algorithm. Spanwise shear is simulated by providing a linear variation in the inlet velocity profile along the spanwise direction and the resulting wake characteristics are compared with uniform inflow. Presence of mode-A, mode-B, and large scale vortical irregularities of two-sided symmetrical vortex dislocations is detected when the inflow is uniform. With shear, oblique and cellular vortex shedding are identified for the square cylinder. Shedding frequency of the vortices varies in a stepwise manner along the span, giving rise to local cells of constant frequency. Constant frequency cell sizes are found to be longer for a square cylinder in shear flow as compared to the circular one. Spanwise shear leads to vortex splitting and one-sided vortex dislocation, contrary to the naturally occurring two-sided vortex dislocation for uniform flow. Reynolds number dependence of spanwise shear flow is studied by comparing wake dynamics at three mid-span Reynolds numbers of 165, 200, and 250 with a shear parameter of 0.025. With an increase in the average Reynolds number, cell sizes decrease and dislocations become irregular in space and time. Simulations with three different shear parameters of 0.0125, 0.025, and 0.05 have been carried out for an average Reynolds number of 250. With an increase in the shear parameter, the frequency of occurrence of vortex dislocations increases in the wake. In addition, obliqueness of the primary vortices and the number of cells also show an increase.