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Numerical studies of flow over a circular cylinder at ReD=3900

Physics of Fluids · 2000 · 726 citations · 29 references

TL;DR

The study investigates the flow over a circular cylinder at Re = 3900 using large‑eddy simulation, focusing on how numerical resolution affects shear‑layer transition. The authors employ a high‑order B‑spline large‑eddy simulation, comparing results to upwind‑biased, central finite‑difference schemes and experimental data. Near the cylinder, all three numerical approaches agree, while downstream the B‑spline LES matches the hot‑wire experiment more closely, with velocity‑fluctuation spectra in excellent agreement.

Abstract

Flow over a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 3900 is studied numerically using the technique of large eddy simulation. The computations are carried out with a high-order accurate numerical method based on B-splines and compared with previous upwind-biased and central finite-difference simulations and with the existing experimental data. In the very near wake, all three simulations are in agreement with each other. Farther downstream, the results of the B-spline computations are in better agreement with the hot-wire experiment of Ong and Wallace [Exp. Fluids 20, 441–453 (1996)] than those obtained in the finite-difference simulations. In particular, the power spectra of velocity fluctuations are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. The impact of numerical resolution on the shear layer transition is investigated.