Direct numerical simulation of steady state, three dimensional, laminar flow around a wall mounted cube

Abstract

The topology and evolution of flow around a surface mounted cubical object in three dimensional channel flow is examined for low to moderate Reynolds numbers. Direct numerical simulations were performed via a home made parallel finite element code. The computational domain has been designed according to actual laboratory experiment conditions. Analysis of the results is performed using the three dimensional theory of separation. Our findings indicate that a tornado-like vortex by the side of the cube is present for all Reynolds numbers for which flow was simulated. A horseshoe vortex upstream from the cube was formed at Reynolds number approximately 1266. Pressure distributions are shown along with three dimensional images of the tornado-like vortex and the horseshoe vortex at selected Reynolds numbers. Finally, and in accordance to previous work, our results indicate that the upper limit for the Reynolds number for which steady state results are physically realizable is roughly 2000.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 01, 2014
Source ID
10.1063/1.4876176

Entities

People

  • Anastasios Liakos
  • Nikolaos A. Malamataris

Organizations

  • George Mason University
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Naval Academy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics.