Computational Simulations of Flow Past a Rotating Arrangement of Three Cylinders Using Hybrid Turbulence Models
Abstract
Over the past 25 years, advances in the field of turbulence modeling have been made in an effort to resolve more scales, preserving unsteadiness within a flow. In this research two hybrid models, Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS) and Stress-Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) are implemented in solving the highly unsteady flow over a rotating arrangement of three cylinders. Results are compared to those from wind tunnel experiments carried out at North Dakota State University. Both models show close agreement with first and second order turbulence quantities, and SBES shows much greater flow structure detail due to its ability to resolve smaller scales. The Strouhal number for the flow is found to be a function of the rotational speed of the arrangement with von Karman-like structures resulting from each cylinder's wake over a full rotation. SAS shows a constant computational cost as Re increases while the SBES's computational cost increases relatively linearly.