Large-Eddy Simulation of the Flow Over a Circular Cylinder at Reynolds Number 2 × 104

Abstract

The flow over a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 2 × 104 was predicted numerically using the technique of large-eddy simulation (LES). Both incompressible and compressible flow formulations were used. The present results obtained at a low-Mach number (M = 0.2) revealed significant inaccuracies like spurious oscillations of the compressible flow solution. A detailed investigation of such phenomena was carried out. It was found that application of blended central-difference or linear-upwind schemes could damp artificial waves significantly. However, this type of schemes has a too dissipative nature compared to pure central-differences. The incompressible flow results were found to be consistent with the existing numerical studies as well as with the experimental data. Basic flow features and flow mechanics were found to be in good agreement with existing experimental data and consistent with previously obtained LES. Special emphasis was put on the spectral analysis. Here, the classical Fourier transform as well as the continuous wavelet transform were applied. Based on the latter, the separated shear-layer instability was precisely clarified. It was found that the Reynolds number dependency between vortex shedding and shear-layer instabilities had a power law relation with n = 0.5.