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InordertostudyStrouhalinstabilitywesimulatedthetwodimensionalflowpastacircularcylinderwith
ComputationalFluidDynamicssoftwareandobservedtheinfluenceoftheparameters.Themethodusedis
describedinthispage.

IModelingandmeshing(Gambit)
IIComputation(Fluent)
IIIResults
ResultsSheet(.html500Ko)

IModelingandmeshing(Gambit)
Arectangularplanedomainwasdesignedaroundthecirclerepresentingthecylinder.Thecylinderwas1cmin
diameter.Thesidesoftherectanglehadtobefarenoughnottointerferewithcomputation.Sotheywereplaced
10cmupstream,50cmdownstreamand20cmbothsidesofthecylinder.
Wechosetocreateanunstructuredmeshbecauseofthecylinder.Indeedunstructuredmeshesaremoreefficient
andveryhandywhenmeshingcurves.Inatwodimensionproblem,theunstructuredmeshismadeoftriangles.
Inpreliminarystudy,asimplemeshwascreatedinordertocheckthevalidityofthedomainchoice.Itwas
refinedonthecylinderandlargeaway.Thecellswere1mmlongonthecylinderand2cmlongonthesidesof
therectangle.

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Preliminarystudy
FirstsimulationsbasedonthismeshshowthatVonKarmanVortexStreetdisappearedwhencellswerelarger.
Sowedecidedtorefinethemeshinthecylinderwake.Refiningtheoutletwasinsufficientbecauseonlythepart
ofthemeshclosetotheoutletwasrefined.Theonlysolutionwefoundwastocreateconstraintslinesinthe
domain.Twolineswereaddedalongxaxisdirectionbetweenthecylinderandtheinletandtheoutlet.Butit
createdproblemswhendefiningboundaryconditionsbecauseoutletmassflowratioofeachnewoutletevolved
withtimeandremainedunknownbeforecomputation.Thesolutionwastokeeponlyoneoutletandcreating
constraintslinesbetweenthecylinderandthecornersofthedomain.

Newdomainwithconstraintslines
Ontheedgesofthisdomain,thenodeswereplacedwiththerepartitionbelow:
Nodesrepartition
inlet:
20nodesregular
outlet:
50nodesbiexponential,ratio0.4
sides:
30nodesregular
constraintslines: 100nodessuccessiveratio,ratio1.025
fronthalfcylinder: 10nodesregular
backhalfcylinder: 15nodesregular

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Nodesrepartition

Nodesrepartitiononthecylinder
Thenthetwosurfacesofthedomainweremeshedseparately.Theconstraintslinesallowsagoodlinkbetween
themeshesofthetwosurfacesandabetterrepartitioninthedomain.Thismeshismadewithabout14.000cells.

Meshwithconstraintslines
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Thelaststepwiththepreprocessorwasthedefinitionoftheboundaryconditions.Theconstraintslineshadto
benonmaterial.Wedefineditas"interior"sothatthefluidgothroughthisartificiallines.Theothersboundary
conditionsareclassical.Thesidesweredefinedas"symmetry"(i.e.theflowisnull)anditisestimatedthatall
theflowexhaustsonlythroughthebackofthedomain.Indeed,computationiseasierandrealoutflowthrough
thesidesishardtoestimate.Consideringthesidesfarenough,theapproximationofnoflowiscorrect.The
boundaryconditionsaredefinedbelow:
Boundaryconditions
inlet:
velocityinlet
outlet:
outflowflowrate:1
sides:
symmetry
constraintslines: interior
fronthalfcylinder: wall
backhalfcylinder: wall

IIComputation(Fluent)
WeworkedwiththesolverFluent5.Thecomputationsweredonewithwater,consideringalaminarmodeland
usingtheboundaryconditionspresentedbefore.Inordertoinitializethecomputations,theinletvelocitywas
chosentoobtainaReynoldsabout40becauseaccordingtoexperimentaldata,itisthecriticalReynolds,i.e.up
tothisReynolds,theflowbecomesinstableandVonKarmanVortexStreetappears.
Howeverwiththispreliminarystudywedidnotobtainsomeoscillations.Thenthesimpleorderunsteadymodel
waschangedtoasecondordermodelinordertodecreaseexcessivestabilityduetocomputationalmethods.
Thiswasnotenough.Finallyadisturbancewascreatedtocauseavortexrelease.A5secondsdisturbance
created3vorticesbuttheflowrestabilized.SoitwasdecidedtoincreaseReynoldsnumberto100.VonKarman
VortexStreetappearedwithoutanydisturbancewithsuchaReynoldsnumber.
Thenthisresultsseemedinsufficientbecausevorticesdisappearedwherethecellsofthemeshbecamelarger.
That'swhythesecondmeshpresentedabovewascreated.Withthenewmesh,theresultswerebetterandVon
KarmanVortexStreetdevelopedinalongerdistance.

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Computationswithpreliminarymesh

CommentaboutcomputationalmethodandStrouhalinstability
Thecomputationsweredonein2stages:firsttheyweredonewithasteadymodeltofindasteadysolution.Like
this,thewakewithrecirculationsdevelopedbehindthecylinderinthewholedomain.Afterthesteady
computationsconverged,newcomputationsweredonewithanunsteadymodelbutfromthesteadysolution.
ThenVonKarmanVortexStreetwasshaped.
Thereisaphysicalinterpretationtothis.Indeed,allinstabilitiesareacombinationofthetwobasicinstabilities:
saddlenodeandpitchfork.Thisinstabilitiesshowthatuptoacriticalvalueofacontrolparameter(Reynolds
numberconsideringStrouhalinstability),thenumberoffluidbalancesincreasesfrom0to2(saddlenode)or
from1to3(pitchfork).Thischangeiscalledafork.Howeversomebalancesarestableandothersareinstable.
Thisinstablebalancesdonotexistinnature.Buttheyareamathematicalsolutionthatcanbecomputed.Thatis
thereasonwhywithsteadycomputations,weobserveaninstablesolutionofStrouhalinstabilitythatdonot
existinthenature.Indeedadisturbancewillalwayscreateaninstabilityandwilldrivethefluidtoastable
balance.

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Saddlenodeandpitchforkinstabilities
Clickheretoseeananimationofthedestabilisation(.gif1.4Mo)

IIIResults
SeveralcomputationsweredonewithseveralReynoldsnumber.Computationalresultsarecorrectregardingto
experimentalknowledge.Clickheretoseetheresultssheet(.html500Ko).TheanimationofVonKarman
VortexStreetisavailablehere(.gif3.0Mo).
ValuesofVonKarmanVortexStreetamplitudeandfrequencyarereportedinthepageResultsValidationaswell
ascriticalReynoldsdetermination.

ESPEYRACLionel
PASCAUDStphane

http://hmf.enseeiht.fr/travaux/CD0102/travaux/optmfn/gpfmho/0102/grp1/num_simu.htm

Presentation
PhysicsKnowledge
NumericalSimulation
ResultsValidation
Conclusion

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