Drag Reduction of Bluff Bodies by Surface Control Based on a Force Theory

Author(s):  
Shih-Hao Yang ◽  
Chien C. Chang ◽  
Chin-Chou Chu ◽  
Shi-Hua Liao ◽  
R. L. Chern

In the present study, we show how drag reduction of a bluff body can be achieved on a rational basis of a force theory. The force theory indicates where is the best location to apply the surface control to minimize the drag on the body. In particular, the method of drag reduction is illustrated for flow around a circular cylinder. It is shown that drag reduction for the circular cylinder can be as efficient as 46.5%.

Author(s):  
Ahmed F. Abdel Gawad

The aim of the present study is to find computationally the optimum parameters that affect the drag reduction of bluff bodies using a small object (obstacle). These parameters include the size of the obstacle as well as the gap between the obstacle and the bluff body. Two- and three-dimensional bodies were investigated in turbulent flow fields. The research was focused on the cases of the rectangular-section obstacle. Four values of the obstacle size were studied, namely: 4%, 10%, 35%, and 100% of the size of the bluff body. The effect of the obstacle on the thermal field of the two-dimensional body was also studied. Comparisons were carried out with the available experimental measurements. A proposed neuro-fuzzy approach was used to predict the drag reduction of the entire system. Results showed that system drag reductions up to 62% (two-dimensional flows) and 48% (three-dimensional flows) can be obtained. Also, enhancement of the body cooling up to 75% (two-dimensional flows) may be achieved. Generally, useful comments and suggestions are stated.


Author(s):  
Baiheng Wu ◽  
Jorlyn Le Garrec ◽  
Dixia Fan ◽  
Michael S. Triantafyllou

Currents and waves cause flow-structure interaction problems in systems installed in the ocean. Particularly for bluff bodies, vortices form in the body wake, which can cause strong structural vibrations (Vortex-Induced Vibrations, VIV). The magnitude and frequency content of VIV is determined by the shape, material properties, and size of the bluff body, and the nature and velocity of the oncoming flow. Riser systems are extensively used in the ocean to drill for oil wells, or produce oil and gas from the bottom of the ocean. Risers often consist of a central pipe, surrounded by several smaller cylinders, including the kill and choke lines. We present a series of experiments involving forced in-line and cross flow motions of short rigid sections of a riser containing 6 symmetrically arranged kill and choke lines. The experiments were carried out at the MIT Towing Tank. We present a systematic database of the hydrodynamic coefficients, consisting of the forces in phase with velocity and the added mass coefficients that are also suitable to be used with semi-empirical VIV predicting codes.


Author(s):  
T. Stengel ◽  
F. Ebert ◽  
M. Fallen

The flow around a surface-mounted bluff body with cuboid shape is investigated. Therefore, the velocity field including the distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy is computed and compared with experimental Laser Doppler Anemometry data. Several different turbulence models, namely the standard k-ε model, the Wolfshtein two-layer k-ε model and a Large-Eddy approach are validated. Since the Large-Eddy model remains the only model representing the flow accurate, it is chosen for further investigations. The pressure distribution on the body and on the carrying surface around the body is analysed. The lift coefficients are computed for Reynolds numbers, ranging from 1.1 × 104 up to 4.4 × 104. The lengths of the separation zone above and the recirculation zone downstream the body are evaluated.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Javad Izadi ◽  
Pegah Asghari ◽  
Malihe Kamkar Delakeh

The study of flow around bluff bodies is important, and has many applications in industry. Up to now, a few numerical studies have been done in this field. In this research a turbulent unsteady flow round a cube is simulated numerically. The LES method is used to simulate the turbulent flow around the cube since this method is more accurate to model time-depended flows than other numerical methods. When the air as an ideal fluid flows over the cube, flow separate from the back of the body and unsteady vortices appears, causing a large wake behind the cube. The Near-Wake (wake close to the body) plays an important role in determining the steady and unsteady forces on the body. In this study, to see the effect of the free stream velocity on the surface pressure behind the body, the Reynolds number is varied from one to four million and the pressure on the back of the cube is calculated numerically. From the results of this study, it can be seen that as the velocity or the Reynolds number increased, the pressure on the surface behind the cube decreased, but the rate of this decrease, increased as the free stream flow velocity increased. For high free stream velocities the base pressure did not change as much and therefore the base drag coefficient stayed constant (around 1.0).


Author(s):  
Mohammad J. Izadi

In this paper, a 3-D flow field around two bluff bodies in an incompressible fluid is modeled [1]. Formations of these two bodies are top to top (One on the top of the other) with respect to the center of each other. The lower on has a constant cross sectional area with a vent of air at its apex and the upper one has a variable cross sectional area with no vent on it. The vertical distances between the bluff bodies, the cross sectional area, and also the vent ratio of bluff bodies are varied here. Vertical distances of these two bodies are varied form zero to half, equal, double and triple the radius of the body with a vent on it (lower body). Flow condition is considered 3D, steady, turbulent, and incompressible. The drag force on each body and also the pressure around the two bodies are calculated. From the numerical results, it can be seen that, the drag force is constant over the range of zero to twenty percent of the vent ratios and for higher vent ratios when the upper bluff body is smaller than the lower one the drag force decreased, and it increased when the upper bluff body is larger than the lower one.


Coatings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsugu Hasegawa ◽  
Hirotaka Sakaue

The biomimicry of using a hair-like structure is introduced as a drag reduction coating. The hair-like structure consists of an array of microfiber that is introduced as a passive drag reduction device. An effective flow control for a transition delay or a flow attachment is expected via an interaction or counteraction of flexible fibers, compared to the existing passive methods that use a solid or rigid surface device. The effect of the microfiber coating on drag reduction over a bluff-body was experimentally investigated using a circular cylinder in a wind tunnel at Reynolds number of 6.1 × 104. A drag reduction of 32% was obtained when the microfiber coating with a length of 0.012D was located at 40° from the stagnation point. Smoke flow visualization showed that flow separation delay was induced by the microfiber coating when the drag reduction occurred.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong-Ho Seo ◽  
Chung-Do Nam ◽  
Jung-Young Han ◽  
Cheol-Hyun Hong

In this study, we used the Taguchi method to derive the optimal design parameters for the grooves formed on the upper surface of a circular cylinder. Using the derived values of the optimal design parameters, we created grooves on diphycercal the surfaces of a circular cylinder and analyzed the wake flow and the boundary-layer flow of the circular cylinder. The streamwise time mean velocity and turbulence intensity of the wake flow field were used as the characteristics. Based on these characteristics, the optimal design parameter values were selected: n = 3, k = 1.0 mm (k/d = 2.5%), and θ = 60 deg. When the grooved cylinder was used, the streamwise time mean velocity in the wake of the cylinder showed 12.3% recovery, the wake width was reduced by 18.4% compared to the results from the smooth cylinder and we had 28.2% drag reduction from that of smooth cylinder. Also, the flow on the smooth cylinder separated at around 82 deg but the flow separation on a grooved cylinder appeared beyond 90 deg, that reducing the drag.


Author(s):  
Naveen Koppa Shivanna ◽  
Pritanshu Ranjan ◽  
Shibu Clement

Abstract This work aims to investigate the comparative effect of two passive flow controls in modifying the mean wake topology around a simplified square back vehicle model. The two passive flow controls are (i) Single cavity and (ii) Multi-cavity. A straight cavity with an optimum depth at the rear base of a vehicle is a well-known technique used to alter the mean wake topology and achieve drag reduction[1]. For two dimensional bluff bodies, a multi-cavity is known to deliver better drag reduction at shorter cavity depths in comparison to a single cavity[2]. With this viewpoint, a numerical investigation is carried out to examine the performance of a multi-cavity over a single cavity in drag reduction for a three-dimensional bluff body vehicle model. The numerical simulations are performed at Reynolds Number (Re) = 1 × 105 using the k-ω SSTSAS turbulence model in a Finite volume open-source code OpenFOAM. The investigations revealed, for any cavity depth, a single cavity always performed better than multi-cavity in reducing drag. However, at optimum cavity depth equal to 33% of the body height, the drag reduction magnitude was identical for both the flow controls. The plausible mechanisms responsible for their relative difference in performance will be explored by analyzing the base pressure distribution, wake mean topology, and the temporal behavior of the wake.


1979 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. T. Smith

The asymptotic theory for the laminar, incompressible, separating and reattaching flow past the bluff body is based on an extension of Kirchhoff's (1869) free-streamline solution. The flow field (only the upper half of which is discussed since we consider a symmetric body and flow) consists of two basic parts. The first is the flow on the body scalel*, which is described to leading order by the Kirchhoff solution with smooth inviscid separation, but with an$O(Re^{-\frac{1}{16}})$modification to explain fully the viscous separation (hereRe([Gt ] 1) is the Reynolds number). The influence of this$O(Re^{-\frac{1}{16}})$modification is determined for the circular cylinder. The second part is the large-scale flow, comprising mainly the eddy and the ultimate wake. The eddy has length scaleO(Rel*), widthO(Re½l*) and is of elliptical shape to keep the eddy pressure almost uniform. The ultimate wake is determined numerically and fixes the eddy length. The (asymptotically small) back pressure from the eddy acts (on the body scale) both in the free stream and in the eddy, and it has a marked effect at moderate Reynolds numbers; combined with the Kirchhoff solution, it predicts the pressure drag on a circular cylinder accurately, to within 10% whenRe= 5 and to within 4% whenRe= 50. Other predictions, for the eddy length and width, the front pressure and the eddy pressure, also show encouraging agreement with experiments and Navier-Stokes solutions at moderate Reynolds numbers (of about 30), both for the circular cylinder and the normal flat plate. Finally, an analysis in the appendix indicates that, in wind-tunnel experiments, the tunnel walls (even if widely spaced) can exert considerable influence on the eddy properties, eventually forcing an upper bound on the eddy width asReincreases instead of theO(l*Re½) growth appropriate to the unbounded flow situation.


Author(s):  
Y Triyogi ◽  
D Suprayogi ◽  
E Spirda

The bluff body cut from a small circular cylinder that is cut at both sides parallel to the y-axis was used as passive control to reduce the drag of a larger circular cylinder. The small bluff body cut is called an I-type bluff body, which interacts with a larger one downstream. I-type bluff bodies with different cutting angles of θs = 0°(circular), 10°, 20°, 30°, 45°, 53°, and 65° were located in front and at the line axis of the circular cylinder at a spacing S/ d = 1.375, where their cutting surfaces are perpendicular to the free stream velocity vector. The tandem arrangement was tested in a subsonic wind tunnel at a Reynolds number (based on the diameter d of the circular cylinder and free stream velocity) of Re = 5.3×104. The results show that installing the bluff bodies (circular or sliced) as a passive control in front of the large circular cylinder effectively reduces the drag of the large cylinder. The passive control with cutting angle θs = 65° gives the highest drag reduction on the large circular cylinder situated downstream. It gives about 0.52 times the drag of a single cylinder.


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