Verification and validation studies of the time-averaged velocity field in the very near-wake of a finite elliptical cylinder

Abstract

This paper presents verification and validation results for the time-averaged, three-dimensional velocity field immediately downstream of a finite elliptic cylinder at a Reynolds number of 1.35 × 10 4. Numerical simulations were performed with the finite element package, Fidap, using the steady state, standard k-epsilon model. The ratio of the cylinder height to the major axis of the elliptical cross section is 5.0; the aspect ratio of the cross section is 0.5625. This particular geometry is selected as a crude surrogate for the human form in consideration of further applied occupational and environmental health studies. Predictions of the velocity and turbulence kinetic energy fields in the very near-wake are compared to measurements taken in a wind tunnel using laser Doppler anemometry. Results show that at all locations where a reliable grid convergence index can be calculated there is not a demonstrable difference between simulated and measured values. The overall topology of the time-averaged flow field is reasonably well predicted, although the simulated near-wake is narrower than the measured one.