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Large-eddy simulation of flow over a cylinder with $Re_{D}$ from $3.9\times 10^{3}$ to $8.5\times 10^{5}$ : a skin-friction perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2017

W. Cheng Open the ORCID record for W. Cheng [Opens in a new window] ,
D. I. Pullin ,
R. Samtaney ,
W. Zhang  and
W. Gao
W. Cheng*
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, CA 91125, USA
D. I. Pullin
Affiliation:
Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology, CA 91125, USA
R. Samtaney
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
W. Zhang
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
W. Gao
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
*
†Email address for correspondence: chengw@caltech.edu
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Abstract

We present wall-resolved large-eddy simulations (LES) of flow over a smooth-wall circular cylinder up to $Re_{D}=8.5\times 10^{5}$ , where $Re_{D}$ is Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter $D$ and the free-stream speed $U_{\infty }$ . The stretched-vortex subgrid-scale (SGS) model is used in the entire simulation domain. For the sub-critical regime, six cases are implemented with $3.9\times 10^{3}\leqslant Re_{D}\leqslant 10^{5}$ . Results are compared with experimental data for both the wall-pressure-coefficient distribution on the cylinder surface, which dominates the drag coefficient, and the skin-friction coefficient, which clearly correlates with the separation behaviour. In the super-critical regime, LES for three values of $Re_{D}$ are carried out at different resolutions. The drag-crisis phenomenon is well captured. For lower resolution, numerical discretization fluctuations are sufficient to stimulate transition, while for higher resolution, an applied boundary-layer perturbation is found to be necessary to stimulate transition. Large-eddy simulation results at $Re_{D}=8.5\times 10^{5}$ , with a mesh of $8192\times 1024\times 256$ , agree well with the classic experimental measurements of Achenbach (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 34, 1968, pp. 625–639) especially for the skin-friction coefficient, where a spike is produced by the laminar–turbulent transition on the top of a prior separation bubble. We document the properties of the attached-flow boundary layer on the cylinder surface as these vary with $Re_{D}$ . Within the separated portion of the flow, mean-flow separation–reattachment bubbles are observed at some values of $Re_{D}$ , with separation characteristics that are consistent with experimental observations. Time sequences of instantaneous surface portraits of vector skin-friction trajectory fields indicate that the unsteady counterpart of a mean-flow separation–reattachment bubble corresponds to the formation of local flow-reattachment cells, visible as coherent bundles of diverging surface streamlines.

JFM classification

Boundary Layers: Boundary Layers Boundary Layers: Boundary layer separation Turbulent Flows: Turbulence simulation

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Papers
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Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 820 , 10 June 2017 , pp. 121 - 158
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© 2017 Cambridge University Press 

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