SIMULATION OF VON KARMAN STREET

IN A FLOW OVER A CYLINDER

- SALEEM MOHAMMED HAMZA (250873614)
 WHAT IS VON KARMAN STREET?
• A fluid dynamics phenomenon
• Repeating pattern of swirling vortices caused
by the unsteady separation of flow of a fluid
around blunt bodies.
• Named after the engineer and fluid dynamist
T. Von Karman.
• Vortex formation only starts above Re>80.
• Vortex Shedding is given by Strouhal
number, 𝑆𝑡 = 𝑓𝑑/𝑈.
• For flow over cylinder St = 0.2
 OBJECTIVE

• To simulate the flow over a cylinder for Re 103 and 104 using different turbulence
models and to compare the results and suggest the best model for this case.

• To obtain the coefficients of lift and drag and to compare it with the theoretical data
available.

• To find the Strouhal number from the simulation and to compare it with the
theoretical data available.
 PROBLEM SPECIFICATION
• Unsteady state.

• Fluid as air of 𝜌 = 1.225 kg/m3 and 𝜇 = 1.78 x 10−5kg/ms.

• Set diameter as 1 m for ease of calculation.

• Obtain the velocity at the inlet in order to maintain the desired

Reynolds number, i.e., 103 and 104 by using the below formula.

𝜌𝑈𝐷
𝑅𝑒 =
𝜇
 SOLUTION DOMAIN
• A circular domain will be used for this
simulation.

• Thus, the outer boundary will be set to be 64

times as large as the diameter of the
cylinder.

• That is, the outer boundary will be a circle

with a diameter of 64 m.
 MESH
• Mesh Quality
• Aspect Ratio - 2.25882
• Minimum Edge Length – 1.57m
• Growth Rate – 1.20

• Mesh Size
• Level – 0
• Cells – 18432
• Faces – 37056
• Nodes – 18624
• Partitions – 1
 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
• We will set the left half of the outer
boundary as a velocity inlet.

• Next, we will use a pressure outlet boundary

condition for the right half of the outer
boundary with a gauge pressure of 0 Pa.

• Lastly, we will apply a no slip boundary

condition to the cylinder wall.
 SOLVER SETTINGS
• SIMPLE

• Second Order Implicit

• Time Step Size

• 0.2 secs for Re = 104
• 5 secs for Re = 1000
•
• No. of Time Steps
• 400 for Re = 104
• 800 for Re = 1000
 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Re 1000 ( k-Epsilon Model)

Velocity Streamlines Velocity Magnitude

 CD & CL PLOTS
Re 1000 ( k-Epsilon Model)
Cd Vs Time 0.200 Cl Vs Time
4.000
0.100
3.000
0.000
2.000 0.000 500.000 1000.000 1500.000 2000.000 2500.000
-0.100
1.000
-0.200
0.000
0.000 500.000 1000.000 1500.000 2000.000 2500.000 -0.300
-1.000
Cd

-0.400
-2.000

-0.500
-3.000

-4.000 -0.600

-5.000 -0.700

Time (s)
-6.000 -0.800
 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Re 1000 (K-Omega Model)

Velocity Streamlines Velocity Magnitude

Cd Vs Time CL Vs Time
 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Re 1000 (K-Omega SST Model)

Velocity Streamlines Velocity Magnitude

Cd Vs Time CL Vs Time
 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Re 104 (K-Epsilon Model)

Velocity Streamlines Velocity Magnitude

Cd Vs Time CL Vs Time
 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Re 104 (K- Omega Model)

Velocity Streamlines Velocity Magnitude

Cd Vs Time CL Vs Time
 NUMERICAL RESULTS
Re 104 (K- Omega SST Model)

Velocity Streamlines Velocity Magnitude

Cd Vs Time CL Vs Time
 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS
• We can see how the lift coefficient changes with the flow time, becoming periodic
due to the vortex shedding from the cylinder.

• We can use this plot to calculate the Strouhal number of the flow, which is a ratio of
the unsteadiness in the flow to inertial forces in the flow field.

• We can calculate the Strouhal Number by calculating the frequency of the vortex
shedding from our plot.
 RESULTS
Re Model Cd Cd Actual Cl Time period F (Hz) St No St Actual

K-Epsilon 1.28015 1.00 0.00368 2.6 0.3846 0.2634 0.2

10000 K-Omega 1.00063 1.00 0.00256 3.00 0.3333 0.2283 0.2

K-Omega- SST 1.00002 1.00 0.00048 3.20 0.3125 0.2140 0.2

K-Epsilon 1.01413 1.20 0.00263 450 0.002222 0.1522 0.2

1000 K-Omega 1.45677 1.20 0.05266 310 0.003226 0.2209 0.2

K-Omega- SST 1.28016 1.20 0.06904 335 0.002985 0.2044 0.2

 STROUHAL VS REYNOLDS
Strouhal No VS Reynold No
0.3000

0.2500

0.2000

0.1500
St

K-Epsilon

0.1000 k-Omega

K-Omega SST
0.0500
Theoretical

0.0000
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
Re
 CD VS REYNOLDS NO
Drag Coefficient Vs Re No
1.60000

1.40000

1.20000

1.00000

0.80000
Cd

K-Epsilon

0.60000 K-Omega

K-Omega SST
0.40000
Theoretical
0.20000

0.00000
0 2000 4000 Re
6000 8000 10000 12000

• We can see from the above comparison that the K-Omega SST model is the most
accurate among the three models as its value are closer to the theoretical data
available for flow over cylinder
 DISCUSSIONS
• The simulation experiences some instabilities at the start and gradually stabilizes as
the flow develops.

• To avoid this, we can either patch the region and apply a initial condition of velocity
or run the simulation under steady state and then use this case as the boundary
condition for the unsteady simulation.

• This results in earlier vortices shedding and thus allows us to see the oscillation in the
lift coefficient vs time plot better.

• This also effectively reduces the time step size & number times steps to be run and
thus effectively capture the vortex shedding.
 CONCLUSION
• Thus the flow over a cylinder was simulated in FLUENT 16.0 and the different
turbulence models were compared.

• The drag coefficient and the Strouhal no obtained from simulations were compared
to the theoretical data available and were found to be inline.

• It was found that the K-Omega SST Turbulence model was the most accurate and
the percentage error with the theoretical data for drag coefficient and Strouhal
number was 6% and 2% respectively which is acceptable.
THANK YOU!!! 