Non-isothermal flow past a heated circular cylinder in subcritical regime: a numerical investigation based on large-eddy simulation

Abstract

Compressible flow past a heated circular cylinder at subcritical Reynolds number of 3900 is numerically investigated by using the large-eddy simulation method. Rigorous validations of the numerical model are carefully performed under isothermal conditions on the basis of available experimental data. The calculated mean flow and Reynolds stresses show good agreement with the published experimental data. The effects of temperature difference between the cylinder surface and the freestream on the flow statistics and thermal characteristics are further studied in detail by setting two kinds of wall temperature boundary conditions. It is manifested that increasing the wall temperature leads to the augmentation of skin friction drag, suppression of turbulent intensity, enhancement of flow mixing and extension of recirculation zone. In addition, it is found that the variations of thermo-physical properties pose a slight effect on the wall heat flux before the boundary layer separates from the cylinder surface. It is worth noting that the recirculation bubble length can be used as a distance scaling parameter to weaken the temperature dependence of the flow and thermal statistics. These results provide a more detailed insight into the statistical difference in the wake region of cylinder when the temperature effect is taken into account.