Emergence of attached recirculating eddy for flow around a circular cylinder asymmetrically placed in a channel

Abstract

This study discusses the emergence and development of cylinder-attached recirculating regions appearing in a fully developed flow past a circular cylinder asymmetrically confined between two infinite parallel plates. We employed a finite-volume method with the SIMPLE algorithm to compute the flow fields for various sizes and asymmetrical settings of circular cylinders. Two geometrical parameters, the blockage and asymmetry coefficients, are varied in computations. A series of computations show that the flow evolves a single asymmetrical recirculating region for the Reynolds number beyond some critical value. Its development in length bears a linear relation to the Reynolds number. Its growth rate depends on the two geometrical parameters. In addition, the computations also show that as the cylinder is moved toward one of the plates, the critical Reynolds number becomes larger. It seems to imply that the existence of lateral plate delays the formation of recirculating region.