Abstract
Flow around square cylinders with cut-corners at the front edges is investigated using particle image velocimetry. It is found that drag reduction can be achieved for the tested cut-corner dimensions. The mechanism for the drag reduction is explored on the statistical and structural aspects of the flow. After cutting the corners, the fluctuation intensity of the wake is weakened, the length of the recirculation region behind the square cylinder is increased, while the width of the wake decreases. It is found that the drag coefficient is proportional to the minimum wake width, and the Strouhal number St is inversely proportional to the minimum wake width. It is revealed that the reduced wake width is due to the suppressed separation over the side surfaces for the cylinders with cut-corners at the front edges. On the structural aspect, the phase-averaged flow field and the modes from proper orthogonal decomposition both indicate a decrease in the wake vortex size. A statistical analysis of instantaneous vortices based on Oseen vortex fit reveals that not only the size of the vortex is reduced, but also the strength is weakened.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonia RA, Rajagopalan S (1990) Determination of drag of a circular cylinder. AIAA J 28(10):1833–1834
Bearman PW (1965) Investigation of the flow behind a two-dimensional model with a blunt trailing edge and fitted with splitter plates. J Fluid Mech 21:241–255
Bearman PW, Trueman DM (1972) An investigation of the flow around rectangular cylinders. Aeronaut Q 23:228–237
Bostock BR, Mair WA (1972) Pressure distributions and forces on rectangular and d-shaped cylinders. Aeronaut Q 23:1–6
Carlier J, Stanislas M (2005) Experimental study of eddy structures in a turbulent boundary layer using particle image velocimetry. J Fluid Mech 535:143–188
Christensen KT (2004) The influence of peak-locking errors on turbulence statistics computed from piv ensembles. Exp Fluids 36(3):484–497
Hu JC, Zhou Y, Dalton C (2006) Effects of the corner radius on the near wake of a square prism. Exp Fluids 40:106–118
Igarashi T, Muranaka N, Nakamura H (2005) Drag reduction of a rectangular cylinder with small rectangular cutout at its edges normal to air-stream. In: Annual conference of Japan society of fluid mechanics, Japan
Kurata M, Hirakawa K, Yasutomi Z, Kida T (1999) Effect of cutout at front edges to drag reduction of square prism. Trans Jpn Soc Aeronaut Space Sci 47(543):174–181
Kurata M, Ueda Y, Kida T, Iguchi M (2009) Drag reduction due to cut-corners at the front-edge of a rectangular cylinder with the length-to-breadth ratio being less than or equal to unity. J Fluids Eng Trans ASME 131(6): Paper No. 064, 501
Lee BE (1975) The effect of turbulence on the surface pressure field of a square prism. J Fluid Mech 69:263–282
Nakaguchi H, Hashimoto K, Muto S (1968) An experimental study on aerodynamic drag of rectangular cylinders. J Jpn Soc Aero Space Sci 16:Paper no.168
Okajima A (1982) Strouhal numbers of rectangular cylinders. J Fluid Mech 123:379–398
Tamura T, Miyagi T (1999) The effect of turbulence on aerodynamic forces on a square cylinder with various corner shapes. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 83:135–145
Tamura T, Miyagi T, Kitagishi T (1998) Numerical prediction of unsteady pressures on a square cylinder with various corner shapes. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 74–6:531–542
Ueda Y, Kurata M, Kida T, Iguchi M (2009) Visualization of flow past a square prism with cut-corners at the front-edge. J Vis 12(4):383–391
Zhou J, Adrian RJ, Balachandar S, Kendall TM (1999) Mechanism for generating coherent packets of hairpin vortices in channel flow. J Fluid Mech 387:353–396
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China with Grant No. 10832001 and No. 11327202.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
He, G.S., Li, N. & Wang, J.J. Drag reduction of square cylinders with cut-corners at the front edges. Exp Fluids 55, 1745 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-014-1745-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-014-1745-1