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To cite this article: Anuj Kumar & Amit Dhiman (2015) Laminar Flow and Heat Transfer Phenomena Across a
Confined Semicircular Bluff Body at Low Reynolds Numbers, Heat Transfer Engineering, 36:18, 1540-1551, DOI:
10.1080/01457632.2015.1025000
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Heat Transfer Engineering, 36(18):15401551, 2015
Copyright
C Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0145-7632 print / 1521-0537 online
DOI: 10.1080/01457632.2015.1025000
The present study is concerned with the simulation of incompressible Newtonian fluid flow and heat transfer over a long
semicircular bluff body in a channel at low Reynolds numbers. In particular, wall effects on the forced convection from a
(heated) semicircular cylinder confined in a horizontal channel are investigated for Reynolds number = 140 and blockage
ratio = 16.6750% for air as the working fluid. Flow and thermal fields are found steady for the preceding range of settings.
The onset of flow separation increases as the wall confinement increases. The size of the recirculation zone downstream of
a semicircular cylinder is seen to increase almost linearly with Reynolds number for a fixed blockage ratio, but it decreases
with increasing blockage ratio for a fixed Reynolds number. As expected, total drag coefficient and its components decrease
with increasing value of Reynolds number. However, with increasing blockage ratio, the values of these drag coefficients
increase. On the basis of equal projected area, the total drag coefficient for the present flow system is found to be greater
than the corresponding drag in the case of the unconfined semicircular cylinder. Similarly, the overall drag in the case of
a confined semicircular cylinder is found to be greater than that of a confined circular cylinder for the appropriate range
of dimensionless control parameters. The maximum augmentation in heat transfer for blockage ratios of 25% and 50% is
found to be approximately 16% and 51% with respect to the corresponding value at the blockage ratio of 16.67% at Reynolds
number = 1. Finally, the correlations of wake length, drag coefficient, and average Nusselt number are obtained.
1540
A. KUMAR AND A. DHIMAN 1541
a fluid over a semicircular obstacle on the bottom of a stream. A at low Reynolds numbers. Similarly, the heat transfer results
linearized theory is presented, along with a numerical method conform to the expected positive dependence on Re and Pr.
for the solution of the fully nonlinear problem. The nonlin- Further, the delineation of the critical Reynolds numbers rep-
ear free-surface profile is obtained after solution of an integro- resenting the onset of flow separation from a semicircular
differential equation coupled with the dynamic free-surface con- cylinder and the onset of the laminar vortex shedding regime
dition. The wave resistance of a semicircle is calculated from is investigated numerically by Chandra and Chhabra [12] for
the knowledge of the solution at the free surface. Subsequently, Newtonian/non-Newtonian fluids for the range of settings Re =
Forbes [5] solved the exact equations of 2-D ideal fluid flow over 0.0140 and n = 0.21.8 (where n is the power-law index). Irre-
a semicircular obstruction, using the formulation of Forbes and spective of the type of fluid behavior, both these transitions are
Schwartz [4]. Critical flow is obtained by allowing the upstream reported to occur at a value of the Reynolds number that is lower
Froude number to be sought as part of the solution, and spec- than that for a circular cylinder. Along the same line, Chandra
ifying uniform flow upstream and downstream of the obstacle, and Chhabra [13] simulated the forced flow and heat transfer of
with unknown depth and flow speed infinitely far downstream. power-law fluids over a semicircular cylinder in the 2-D steady
Briefly, the flow takes one of two possible forms, depending on flow regime for a range of dimensionless control parameters:
Downloaded by [Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee] at 22:11 16 July 2015
the value of the upstream Froude number (Fr ) according to lin- Re = 0.0130, Pr = 1100, and n = 0.21.8. Broadly, it is pos-
earized theory: (i) If Fr < 1, linearized theory predicts a region sible to enhance the heat transfer rate in shear-thinning fluids
of uniform flow far ahead of the obstruction followed by a train by up to 6070% under appropriate conditions. Finally, simple
of downstream waves, and (ii) if Fr > 1, a wave-free solution is expressions for recirculation length, surface pressure, and Nus-
obtained, in which the fluid surface simply rises over the obsta- selt number have been derived. Subsequently, they examined
cle, before returning to the undisturbed level downstream [5]. the effects of mixed [14] and natural [15, 16] convection around
Obviously, there is no linearized solution when Fr = 1. Exper- a semicircular cylinder in the steady regime. Recently, Bhinder
imentally, Boisaubert et al. [6] analyzed the confined flow over et al. [17] numerically investigated the forced convective heat
a semicircular cylinder for the flat and rounded sides facing the transfer characteristics past a semicircular cylinder at incidence
flow using a solid tracer visualization technique for Re ranging for 80 Re 180. Increase in angle of incidence increases
between 60 and 600. They found critical Reynolds numbers for streamline curvature. Strouhal number shows a decreasing trend
the onset of vortex shedding as 140 and 190 for flat and curved up to certain values of angle of attack and thereafter it increases
surfaces, respectively. They also introduced a splitter plate be- marginally. A correlation of Strouhal number as a function of
hind the rounded forebody configuration to study its effect on Reynolds number and attack angle has also been established.
the flow behavior, and suggested the suitability of this arrange- More recently, Chatterjee et al. [18] simulated the unsteady
ment as a flow-controlling device [7, 8]. Kotake and Suwa [9] forced convection heat transfer around a semicircular cylinder
investigated the variation of stagnation points and the behavior for two different configurations, namely, for the curved surface
of vortices in the rear of a semicircular cylinder in the uniform facing the flow and for the flat surface facing the flow in an un-
shear flow by the visualization technique of the hydrogen bubble confined medium for Re ranging from 50 to 150 and Pr = 0.71.
method. Especially in the case of the shear flow, there was not a The flow and thermal fields are more unstable when the flow
vortex on the side with the faster speed of the mainstream and it impinges on the curved surface rather that in the flat surface. The
found that the vortex was generating only on the slower speed simple heat transfer correlations depicting the functional depen-
side. Iguchi and Terauchi [10] studied three kinds of noncircu- dence of the Nusselt number with Reynolds number were also
lar cylinders (e.g., semicircular, triangular, and rectangular) to obtained. In the vortex shedding regime, Chandra and Chhabra
detect the shedding frequency of Karmans vortex streets for [19] also studied the flow and forced convection heat transfer
velocity lower than 10 cm/s. Among them, a triangular cylinder characteristics of a semicircular cylinder to Newtonian/power-
is found to meet this requirement most adequately as long as the law fluids over the range of conditions as Re = 40140, Pr =
direction of flow approaching the triangular cylinder is known. 0.750, and n = 0.21.8. The value of the average Nusselt num-
The minimum detectable velocity is approximately 5 cm/s. So- ber increases by a factor of 56 as the value of Prandtl number
phy et al. [11] examined the flow past a semicircular cylinder is increased from 0.7 to 50, which is in line with the expected
scaling N u Pr /3 .
1
with curved surface facing the flow and found the flow to be
unsteady at Re = 65. They obtained the corresponding Strouhal Aside from the studies just described, Coutanceau et al. [20]
number of about 0.166, which is 7% larger than that of a circular analyzed the way the initial wake vortices (primary and sec-
cylinder at the corresponding transition. ondary vortices) form and develop with time behind a short
In recent years, Chandra and Chhabra [2] documented the cylindrical semicircular shell (hollow at the back). The struc-
unconfined flow and heat transfer over a semicircular cylin- ture of the vortices is examined by means of precise visual-
der immersed in Newtonian fluids for 0.01 Re 39.5 and izations both in mid-cross and mid-span planes. They reported
0.72 Pr 100. The critical values of Reynolds numbers for that the regime of the occurring structures changes beyond the
wake formation and for the onset of vortex shedding are iden- first phase of development when Reynolds number is passing
tified as 0.55 < Re < 0.6 and 39.5 < Re < 40, respectively. through a critical value (Re between 120 and 140). Hocking
The total drag is dominated by the pressure contribution even and Vanden-Broeck [21] carried out numerical computations
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 18 2015
1542 A. KUMAR AND A. DHIMAN
figuration of a cylindrical body on Karman vortex excitation Figure 1 Schematic of the confined flow and heat transfer in a channel with a
experimentally by using the same cylinders. Karman vortex ex- built-in semicircular cylinder.
citation appears on all three cylinders; however, the oscillation
behavior is reported drastically different among them. sumed to be small, that is, Tw T = 2K, so that the variation
Thus, as far as we know, no one investigated the momentum of physical properties (e.g., density, viscosity, thermal conduc-
and heat transfer around a confined semicircular cylinder in a tivity) with temperature could be neglected. In addition, the
channel besides having many engineering applications [1, 2]. viscous dissipation effects are neglected as Brinkman number
Therefore, the aim of this study is to fill this gap in the literature is assumed to be small over the range of conditions investigated
for air flow and heat transfer across a semicircular cylinder at here. Thus, the present results are applicable to situations where
low Re for varying values of blockage ratios. To understand the temperature difference is not too large and for moderate
the flow and thermal fields around a long semicircular obstacle, viscosity and/or shearing levels. Under these assumptions, the
streamline and isotherm contours are presented and discussed. flow and heat transfer phenomena are governed by the following
The engineering output parameters such as drag coefficient and continuity, NavierStokes, and thermal energy equations:
Nusselt number are calculated. In addition, the onset of flow Continuity equation:
separation is determined at different values of blockage ratios. Ux U y
+ =0 (1)
x y
x-Momentum equation:
2
Ux Ux Ux U y Ux 1 p Ux 2 Ux
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION AND FORMULATION + + = + + (2)
t x y x x2 y2
The 2-D confined laminar flow and heat transfer of incom- y-Momentum equation:
pressible Newtonian fluids in a channel with a built-in long 2
U y Ux U y U y U y 1 p Uy 2Uy
semicircular bar are investigated, as schematically shown in + + = + + (3)
t x y y x2 y2
Figure 1. The obstacle of semicircular cross section is exposed
to a fully developed velocity field with average velocity (U ) Energy equation:
and uniform temperature (T ) at the inlet. The obstacle is lo- 2
T Ux T U y T T 2T
cated on the centerline of the channel at an upstream distance of + + = + (4)
t x y x2 y2
X u from the inlet and at a downstream distance of X d from the
outlet. The total length of the computational domain is L ( = X u where U x , U y , p, and T are the x- and y-components of veloc-
+ X d ) in the axial direction and the height of the computational ity, pressure, and temperature, respectively; is the kinematic
domain is H in the lateral direction. The wall confinement or viscosity (/) and is the thermal diffusivity (k/(C p )). In
blockage ratio () is defined here as = D/H , where D is the the present study, the flow and heat transfer phenomena depend
diameter of the semicircular cylinder and H is the height of the upon three nondimensional control parameters such as Reynolds
domain. and Prandtl numbers and blockage ratio, which are defined as
For the 2-D, incompressible and laminar flow, the continuity, DU /, C p /k, and D/H , respectively.
the x-component and y-component of momentum, and the en- The boundary conditions may be written as follows for the
ergy equations are given next (Eqs. (1)(4)). The thermophysical present flow configuration (Figure 1): At the channel inlet: A
properties of the streaming fluid are assumed to be independent fully developed 2-D channel flow (Poiseuille flow) is imposed,
of the temperature. In this work, the temperature difference Ux = 1.5U [1 (|1 2y H
|)2 ](0 y H ); U y = 0 and
between the streaming fluid and the semicircular cylinder is as- T = T . On upper and lower walls of the channel: Ux =
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 18 2015
A. KUMAR AND A. DHIMAN 1543
NUMERICAL METHODOLOGY
Table 1 Grid dependence study for Reynolds number of 40 and Prandtl Table 2 Effect of upstream distance on the dimensionless output parameters
number of 0.7 at different values of blockage ratios for Re = 40 and Pr = 0.7 at different values of blockage ratios
ploited for the further calculation of output flow and heat transfer
parameters.
Grid Dependence Study
For the grid resolution study, a detailed examination of phys- Domain Dependence Study
ical parameters for the flow of Newtonian fluids in a channel
with a built-in semicircular cylinder is undertaken for Re = The domain dependence study is conducted for grid G2
40, Pr = 0.7, and = 16.6750% (Table 1) for upstream and (115,585 cells, 113,585 cells, and 103,579 cells for blockage
downstream distances of 45 and 120, respectively. ratios of 16.67%, 25%, and 50%, respectively) to determine the
Table 1 portrays the values of drag coefficient (CD ) and av- effects of upstream and downstream distances on dimensionless
erage Nusselt number (Nu) at three grid structures (G1, G2, and output parameters as follows.
G3 with 250, 340, and 400 CVs on the surface of a semicircular The impact of upstream distance (Xu /D) on the values of
cylinder, respectively) at different . The symbols G1, G2, and drag (CD ) and average Nusselt number (Nu) is explored for
G3 are representing the total number of cells in the domain for Xu /D = 30, 45, and 60 for the highest Reynolds number of
each studied (see Table 1). The relative percentage differences 40 used here for air as working fluid (Pr = 0.7) at different
in the values of CD and Nu for the grid G1 (250 CVs) are found values of wall confinements. Table 2 illustrates the values of total
to be about 2.1% and 1.3%, respectively, with respect to the drag coefficient and average Nusselt number for the blockage
values at the grid G3 (400 CVs). However, the corresponding ratios of 16.67%, 25%, and 50% at three different values of
percentage differences in CD and Nu for the grid G2 (340 CVs) dimensionless upstream distances. For the wall confinement of
are found to be only about 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively, as com- 50% (or = 50%), the relative percentage differences in the
pared to the values of dimensionless output parameters at the values of CD and Nu for Xu /D = 30 are found to be about 0.1%
grid G3 (400 CVs). At a blockage ratio of 25%, the relative and 0.2%, respectively, with respect to the values at Xu /D = 60.
differences in the values of CD and Nu for the grid size of G1 For Xu /D = 45, the corresponding differences are found to be
(250 CVs) are found to be about 2.2% and 1.3%, respectively, less than 0.05% and 0.15%, respectively. For the blockage ratio
with respect to the values at the grid G3 (400 CVs). The cor- of 25%, the relative differences in the values of CD and Nu for
responding differences in the values of CD and Nu for the grid Xu /D = 30 and Xu /D = 45 are found to be less than 0.01% with
G2 (340 CVs) are found to be only 0.02% and less than 1.0%. respect to the values at Xu /D = 60. For the wall confinement of
Along the same line, Table 1 exhibits the percentage differences 16.67%, the relative differences in the values of CD and Nu for
in the values of drag coefficient and average Nusselt number at a Xu /D = 30 and Xu /D = 45 are found to be less than 0.05% with
blockage ratio of 16.67% for three different grid structures (G1, respect to the values at Xu /D = 60. Hence, the dimensionless
G2, and G3). The relative differences in the values of CD and upstream distance (Xu /D) of 45 is regarded to be sufficient for
Nu for the grid size of G1 are found to be about 1.5% and 1.4%, the results to be free from entrance effects at different values of
respectively, with respect to the values at the grid G3; however, blockage ratios.
the corresponding differences in the values of CD and Nu for the Similarly, numerical experimentations have been carried out
grid G2 are only 0.2% and less than 0.5%. Thus, the optimized to determine the effect of downstream distance (Xd /D) on physi-
grid G2 (i.e., 115,585 cells, 113,585 cells, and 103,579 cells cal output parameters by considering Xd /D = 100, 120, and 140
for blockage ratios of 16.67%, 25%, and 50%, respectively) for Re = 40 and Pr = 0.7 at different values of blockage ratios
with 340 CVs on the surface of the long semicircular bar is ex- (Table 3). For the blockage ratio of 50%, the relative deviations
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 18 2015
A. KUMAR AND A. DHIMAN 1545
Table 3 Effect of downstream distance on the dimensionless output Table 4 Comparison of present drag results for the flow around a
parameters for Re = 40 and Pr = 0.7 at different values of blockage ratios semicircular cylinder with literature values in the steady unconfined flow
regime
Downstream distance (Xd /D) CD Nu
Re Present work Chandra and Chhabra [2]
Blockage ratio () = 50%
100 9.319 4.428 1 10.050 10.055
120 9.321 4.431 5 3.832 3.832
140 9.319 4.427 10 2.709 2.710
Blockage ratio () = 25% 20 1.993 1.993
100 4.002 3.815 30 1.690 1.691
120 4.002 3.816 39.5 1.519 1.520
140 4.001 3.816
Blockage ratio () = 16.67%
100 3.336 3.665
120 3.336 3.665
Downloaded by [Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee] at 22:11 16 July 2015
Figure 3 Streamline contours for Re = 1, 20, and 40 at different values of Figure 4 Variation of the onset Reynolds number of flow separation (Rec )
blockage ratios. with blockage ratio.
Onset of Flow Separation ing of isotherms toward the flat rear surface of a semicircular
cylinder is observed for Re > 10. The turning of isotherms in-
The Reynolds number at which the flow separates from the creases with increasing Reynolds number and decreases with
surface of the semicircular cylinder is expressed here as the wall confinement. This is due to the fact that as the value of
onset Re of flow separation (Rec ). The variation of the onset the Reynolds number increases, the length of the recircula-
Rec of flow separation with blockage ratio is shown in Figure 4. tion region increases, but with increasing blockage ratio the
For = 16.67%, the flow is found to be attached to the surface wake region decreases. The decay of temperature field around a
of the cylinder at Re = 1, whereas the flow separates at Re = 2; semicircular obstacle with increasing Reynolds number and/or
for = 25%, the flow is attached up to Re = 2 and it separates blockage ratio can also be seen in Figure 5. These trends are
at Re = 3; and for = 50%, no flow separation is found up to also consistent with long obstacles confined in a channel, such
Re = 3 whereas it separates at Re = 4. Thus, the onset of flow as a square cylinder [2931] and a circular cylinder [32] in the
separation exists at Rec = 2, 3, and 4 for = 16.67%, 25%, and steady regime.
50%, respectively. It can also be notable here that the onset of
flow separation increases as the wall confinement increases.
Variation of Wake Length With Re and
Figure 7 Variation of (a) pressure drag coefficient, (b) friction drag coefficient,
and (c) ratio of pressure drag coefficient to total drag coefficient with Reynolds
number and blockage ratio.
+10.9464(1+)7.4365 /Re (6) Variation of Local and Average Nusselt Numbers With Re
and
The preceding expression has a maximum deviation of less
than 3.2% with the present computed results (for Re = 40 and The variation of the local Nusselt number (NuL ) along a
= 16.67%), and an average deviation of less than 1.5%. Fig- curved surface (A B and B C) and flat surface (C A)
ure 8 also depicts the deviation of present computed results with of the semicircular cylinder is shown in Figure 9 for the highest
Eq. (6). value of Re considered here at Pr = 0.7 and for various blockage
ratios. As expected, the value of the local Nusselt number on
the surfaces of the 2-D semicircular cylinder increases with the
increase in Re for the fixed value of blockage ratio. Similarly,
for a fixed value of Re, the value of the local Nusselt number
around each surface of the obstacle increases with increasing
channel confinement as the wake length decreases with increas-
ing blockage ratio. The local Nusselt number is found larger for
the curved surface than the flat surface of the long semicircu-
lar bluff body, thereby suggesting more heat transfer from the
curved surface than from the flat one.
The variation of the average Nusselt number for a confined
semicircular cylinder with varying values of Reynolds num-
bers and blockage ratios for air as the working fluid is repre-
sented in Figure 10. As expected, the average Nusselt num-
ber for a long semicircular obstacle increases with increas-
ing Reynolds number for all blockage ratios investigated [2].
However, with an increase in the value of the blockage ratio
from 16.67% to 50%, the average Nusselt number for a con-
fined semicircular cylinder increases for Re > 5, and an oppo-
site trend is observed at a Reynolds number of unity because
there is no flow separation from the surface of a semicircu-
Figure 8 Variation of total drag coefficient with Reynolds number and block- lar cylinder at Re = 1 and also the conduction effect is more
age ratio. Symbols (delta, gradient, circle) and lines (dash, dashdotdot, solid) prominent here. A mixed trend is seen at Re = 5; it increases
correspond to present computed and correlation (Eq. (6)) data, respectively. from = 16.67% to 25% and thereafter it decreases, but the
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 18 2015
A. KUMAR AND A. DHIMAN 1549
(7)
This equation has a maximum deviation of about 4.2%
(at Re = 5 for = 25%) and an average deviation of less
than 1.7%. The deviation of the present computed results with
Eq. (7) can also be seen in Figure 10.
CONCLUSIONS
Downloaded by [Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee] at 22:11 16 July 2015
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