Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-pfhbr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T13:11:37.232Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Calculations of unsteady viscous flow past a circular cylinder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

R. B. Payne
Affiliation:
Computing Machine Laboratory, University of Manchester

Abstract

A numerical solution has been obtained for the starting flow of a viscous fluid past a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers 40 and 100. The method used is the step-by-step forward integration in time of Helmholtz's vorticity equation. The advantage of working with the vorticity is that calculations can be confined to the region of non-zero vorticity near the cylinder.

The general features of the flow, including the formation of the eddies attached to the rear of the cylinder, have been determined, and the drag has been calculated. At R = 40 the drag on the cylinder decreases with time to a value very near that for the steady flow.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Goldstein, S. & Rosenhead, L. 1936 Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 32, 392.
Kawaguti, M. 1953 J. Phys. Soc. Japan 8, 747.
Payne, R. B. 1956 Aero. Res. Counc. (Lond.), Rep. & Mem. no. 3047.
Phillips, O. M. 1956 J. Fluid Mech. 1, 607.
Thom, A. 1933 Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 141, 651.