Reduction of fluid forces on a circular cylinder in the laminar flow regime using a pair of airfoils

Abstract

Flow around the cylinder, with/without a pair of airfoils symmetrical to the cylinder's horizontal axis, was simulated for a diameter-based Reynolds number (Re) of 100. The objective of this numerical study is to simultaneously reduce the values of the time-averaged and fluctuating forces acting on a system consisting of a pair of airfoils and a cylinder below those of a single cylinder by using different combinations of the parameters chord (c), angle of rotation (β), angle of attack (α), and the shortest distance between the aerodynamic center of the airfoil and the surface of the cylinder (g). The values of these key parameters are determined primarily through two approaches. The first approach involves emulating the flow pattern surrounding the system to match the potential flow pattern. The second approach involves disrupting the interaction between the shear layers from the cylinder by stretching them in the mean flow direction. The second approach has been demonstrated to exhibit superior performance in terms of reducing both time-averaged and fluctuating forces concurrently. The second approach has been demonstrated to exhibit superior performance in terms of reducing both time-averaged and fluctuating forces concurrently. The optimal geometrical parameters that yield the desired end results are determined to be c = 0.5D, α = 0°, β = 60°, and g = 0.2D. Utilizing these parameters has been demonstrated to result in a substantial reduction in the time-averaged drag, fluctuating drag, and fluctuating lift coefficients of the system, with the respective percentage reductions reaching 14.4 %, 92.1 %, and 73 %, respectively, when compared to the values obtained for a single cylinder.