Fully developed flow in periodic multi-connected domains: Numerical and experimental study

Abstract

The fluid-solid interaction force in two-dimensional multi-connected periodic domains can be determined by a local flow solution in a periodic microelement. Integration of Navier-Stokes equations in the microelement yields a unique solution in velocity field and in pressure gradient, but not in pressure itself, which is given by the sum of an unknown periodic term and an assigned linear term. The numerical solution of the equations of motion in general curvilinear coordinates is obtained by a finite difference technique, assuming periodic boundary conditions. Pressure drop measurements and flow visualization through arrays of cylinders in different configurations have been conducted for the validation of the proposed method. Comparisons of present numerical results with experimental data and other numerical solutions, for Reynolds number up to 800 and different geometrical configurations of cylinders, are presented and discussed.