Free-surface flow of a fluid body with an inner circular cylinder in impulsive motion

Abstract

An analytical theory and numerical computations are developed for the two-dimensional free-surface flow of an initially circular layer of inviscid fluid surrounding a rigid circular cylinder. The two cylinders are initially concentric. The fluid packet is released from rest and the flow suddenly starts forced by gravity and by the simultaneous impulsive motion of the inner body. A small-time expansion of the fully nonlinear free-surface problem is developed and a closed-form solution is found up to third order for an arbitrary radius of the rigid cylinder. For the gravitational flow around the body at rest, the solution is extended up to fourth order. Free- surface profiles and hydrodynamic forces on the cylinder are calculated and discussed against numerical solutions of the exact unsteady nonlinear problem. Some basic features, such as the formation of an almost uniform layer surrounding the upstream side of the body, are captured by the theory quite well and only later on in time significant quantitative differences appear. Similarly, the behaviour of hydrodynamic loads is rather well predicted during initial stages preceding larger fluctuations observed on a longer time-scale.