An efficient direct-forcing immersed boundary method for flow around a pair of spheres

Abstract

The numerical study of flow around a pair of spheres and a square array of spheres is investigated by using a direct-forcing immersed boundary method. Using high resolution three-dimensional computations, we analyzed the flow around several configurations: a sphere, a pair of spheres in a tandem arrangement with center-to-center streamwise ratio L/D ranging from 1 to 6, and a square array with 9 spheres in a uniform arrangement. In the latter case, we explore the ratio of array diameter (D_G) to sphere diameter (D) at 4, 5, 6 and 7. The center-to-center streamwise and transverse pitch is the same, varied from L/D = 1.5, 2, 2.5 to 3, and they were arranged in a square periodic array to allow uniform distribution within the array. Based on the effective direct-forcing immersed boundary projection method, the fractional time marching methodology is applied for solving four field variables involving three velocities and one pressure component. The pressure Poisson equation is advanced in space by using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and a tridiagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA), effectively solving for the diagonally dominant tridiagonal matrix equations. A direct-forcing immersed boundary method is involved to treat the interfacial terms by adding the appropriate sources as force function at the boundary, separating the phases. Geometries featuring the stationary solid obstacles in the flow are embedded in the Cartesian grid with special discretizations near the embedded boundary using a discrete Dirac delta function to ensure the accuracy of the solution in the cut cells. An important characteristic of flow over the multiple spheres is devised by comparing with the drag and lift coefficients, as well as vortex shedding.