Numerical simulation of flow around a row of circular cylinders using the lattice boltzmann method

This study describes a numerical study of flow past a row of circular cylinders at different Reynolds numbers with different distances between the cylinders using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the blockage effect for the ranges of R e≤200 and B = W[R]e, R and W are the Reynolds numbers, the radius of the cylinders and the distance between the center of the cylinders, respectively. The Strouhal number and drag forces exerted on the cylinders are quantified jointly with the flow patterns around the cylinders in the form of vorticity contours. It is found that both the drag coefficient and Strouhal number increase when B decreases. It is also observed that the Strouhal number, in general increases as Re increases for a fixed value of B for the ranges of Re and B studied. The distance B, between cylinders is limited within 25 in this simulation because of computational resources. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.