Effectiveness of splitter plate to control fluid forces on a circular obstacle in a transient flow: FEM computations

Abstract

The reliability of the usage of a splitter plate (passive control device) downstream of the obstacle, in suppressing the fluid forces on a circular obstacle of diameter D=0.1m is studied in this paper. The first parameter of the current study is the attachment of a splitter plate of various lengths (Li) with the obstacle, whereas the gap separation (Gi) between the splitter plate and the obstacle, is used as a second parameter. The control elements of the first and second parameters are varied from 0.1 to 0.3. For the attached splitter plates of lengths 0.2 and 0.3 , the oscillatory behavior of transient flow at Re= 100 is successfully controlled. For the gap separation, 0.1 and 0.2 similar results are obtained. However, it is observed that a splitter plate of too short length and a plate located at the inappropriate gap from the obstacle, are worthless. A computational strategy based on the finite element method is utilized due to the complicated representative equations. For a clear physical depiction of the problem, velocity and pressure plots have been provided. Drag and lift coefficients the hydrodynamic benchmark values are also evaluated in a graphical representation surrounding the obstacle’s peripheral surface as well as the splitter plate. In a conclusion, a splitter plate can function to control fluid forces whether it is attached or detached, based on plate length and gap separation between obstacle and plate, respectively.