Numerical simulation of viscous oscillatory flow past four cylinders in square arrangement

The results of a numerical study of the viscous oscillating flow past four circular cylinders, for a constant frequency parameter equal to 50 and KC ranging between 0.2 and 10, are presented. The cylinders were placed on the vertices of a square, two sides of which were perpendicular and two parallel to the oncoming flow, for pitch ratios, P/D, ranging between 2 and 5. The finite-element method was employed for the solution of the Navier–Stokes equations, in the formulation where the stream function and the vorticity are the field variables, whereas the pressure distribution throughout the computational domain was obtained from the solution of Poisson’s equation. When the Keulegan–Carpenter number is lower than 4, the flow remains symmetrical with respect to the horizontal axis of symmetry of the solution domain and periodic at consecutive cycles. As KC increases to 4, the flow becomes aperiodic in different cycles, although symmetry with respect to the horizontal central line of the domain is preserved. For KC equal to 5, asymmetries appear intermittently in the flow, which are eventually amplified as KC increases still further. These asymmetries, in association with the aperiodicity of flow in different cycles, lead to an almost chaotic configuration as KC grows larger. For characteristic cases the flow pattern and the time histories of the in-line and transverse forces exerted on the cylinders are presented. The mean transverse forces acting on the cylinders, the r.m.s. values of the in-line and transverse forces, together with the drag and inertia coefficients of the in-line force, were evaluated for each pitch ratio in the range of Keulegan–Carpenter numbers examined and are presented in diagrams.