Numerical simulation of flow interference between two circular cylinders in tandem and side-by-side arrangements

The shedding of vortices and flow interference between two circular cylinde rs in tandem and side-by-side arrangements are investigated numerically in this paper. A Fractional Step Method is used for the simulations and the. f low is assumed two-dimensional. The calculations are carried out on a three -noded unstructured mesh. The simulations are performed for a Reynolds numb er range varying from 100 to 200, and the flow is solved through the finite -element method. The mesh is finer close to the cylinder wall in order to h ave a better description of the boundary layer. Vorticity contours of the f low around the cylinders and force time histories are presented. The calcul ations are also compared to the experimental results obtained by Bearman & Wadcock in 1973 and Williamson in 1985. The numerical simulations, in this sense, complement their work with very detailed vorticity calculations and flow visualizations. (C) 2001 Academic Press.