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LAMINAR FLOW PAST SQUARE BARS ARRANGED

SIDE BY SIDE IN A PLANE CHANNEL
Conference Paper January 2002

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Alvaro A Valencia
University of Chile
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LAMINAR FLOW PAST SQUARE BARS ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE

IN A PLANE CHANNEL

Alvaro Valencia
Departamento de Ingeniera Mecnica
Universidad de Chile
Casilla 2777 Santiago, Chile
e-mail: alvalenc@cec.uchile.cl

Introduction
The technical background for this investigation is the cooling of electronic components. An
analysis shows that the Reynolds numbers by air cooled components are small. Often channel
Reynolds numbers between 100 and 1000 are of interest, which implies a nominal laminar flow. The
two dimensional flow in a plane channel with two square bars arranged side by side to the
approaching flow is considered in the present investigation. The bars induce unsteady transverse
vortices to augment fluid mixing. Transverse vortices have their axes transverse to the flow and are
consistent with two dimensional flow.
The beneficial effect of vortex generators is maximized only if they are optimally spaced in
the channel in the longitudinal and transverse directions. This sensitivity of thermal performance to
geometrical arrangement has spurred considerable interest in identifying optimal arrangements.
Breuer et al. (2000) present accurate computations of the laminar flow past a square bar in a
channel with a blockage ratio 1/8 based on two different methods for the Reynolds number range
0.5Red300 based on the bar size and the maximum flow velocity of the parabolic inflow profile.
They show the great dispersion of the results of the literature for the drag coefficient and vortex
shedding frequency for the confined laminar flow past a square bar.
Valencia (1999) studied the unsteady flow and heat transfer in plane channels of height H
with periodically mounted rectangular bars on the channel axis of height d=0.5H and quantify the
beneficial effects of self-sustained oscillations for three periodicity lengths of 2.25H, 4.25H and
6.25H. Calculations have been performed for Reynolds number based on the channel height from 100
to 400 ranging from steady laminar to lower transitional region. A comparison of mean heat transfer
as a function of the pumping power for the different configurations shows that for constant pumping
power the heat transfer decreases with the periodicity length
When more than one bluff body is placed side by side in a uniform flow, the aerodynamic
parameters and vortex-shedding parameters are completely different from the case of a single body,
because their wakes or vortex streets interfere in a complex manner, depending on the spacing of the
bars. Hayashi and Sakurai (1986) performed experimental investigations on the wake interference of
a row of normal flat plates, consisting of two, three or four plates arranged side by side in a uniform
flow with Reynolds numbers of about 104. When the slit ratio of a row of flat plates is less than about
two, the flows through the slits are biassed either upward or downward in a stable way (except for a
two-plate row with a slit ratio of 1.75 which shows an unstable biassed flow), leading to multiple
flow patterns for a single slit-ratio value.
Zdravkovich (1977) present a review of flow interference between two circular cylinders in

various arrangements for different separation distances and Reynolds numbers. In side by side
arrangement to the approaching flow of two circular cylinders a interference in drag coefficient was
observed for a separation distance smaller than 5 cylinder diameters. The flow pattern in side by side
arrangements show a bistable nature. For a separation distance greater than two, the process of the
vortex formation of both cylinders is exactly the same as that of the single cylinder. When the
separation distance becomes smaller, the bulk flow between the two cylinders deflects, the deflection
to one side or the other can equally take place. Owing to this phenomenon, the size of the vortex
formation region and the vortex shedding frequency of two cylinders are different from each other.
In spite of these recent efforts, the effects of the transverse separation distance of mounted
bars in a laminar channel flow have not been reported in the literature. Therefore this work was
undertaken to provide information on the unsteady flow processes in channels with two square bars
arranged side by side to the approaching flow.

Mathematical formulation
The flow is assumed to be unsteady, two-dimensional, isothermal, and laminar, the fluid is
assumed to be Newtonian with constant properties. The relevant conservation equations describing
the flow are continuity, and time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. The nondimensional
governing equations for the flow can be written as:
U V
+
=0
X Y

(1)

U U 2 UV
P 1 2U 2U

+
+
=
+
+

X
Y
X Re X 2 Y 2

(2)

V UV V 2
P 1 2V 2 V

+
+
=
+
+

X
Y
Y Re X 2 Y 2

(3)

The governing equations were solved numerically in non-dimensionalized form. The

velocities were non-dimensionalized with the averaged velocity U0 at the inlet, all lengths were
nondimensionalized with the channel height H and the pressure with U02. The Reynolds number Re
is defined as U0H/. Also the time was nondimensionalized with H/U0. The inlet flow condition was
taken as a fully developed parabolic velocity profile. As exit boundary condition the wave equation
was chosen to minimize distortion of the unsteady vortices shed from the bars.

Computational details
Figure 1 schematically shows the computational domain for the air flow through the channel
with two square bars mounted side by side to the approaching flow. The streamwise length of the
domain is L=5H and two bars of height d=0.125H are mounted detached from the channel walls on
l/H=1.5625 separated a distance G. The computations were made for eleven transverse bar separation
distances G from 5d until 0.5d, for a channel Reynolds number of 800. For this Reynolds the flow in
the channel with two square bars mounted side by side to the approaching flow is unsteady and
laminar.

The discretization method used in the present study uses a control volume formulation. A
detailed description of this discretization method is given by Patankar (1980). Several modifications
to the application of SIMPLE method as the SIMPLEC approximation, tridiagonal-matrix solver and
convergence criterion for the pressure correction equation were included in the algorithm. A zero
velocity field on the bars are achieved by adding a source term of very high magnitude in the NavierStokes equations in the control volumes where the bars are located.
For the computations a fine grid with 960x192 control volumes and a small nondimensional
time spacing of 0.0004 has been used. A typical run of 75000 time steps takes about 6000 CPU
minutes on an PENTIUM IV computer.
To check grid independence, numerical simulations of the unsteady problem with one
mounted square bar on the channel axis, l/H=1.5625, d/H=0.125, channel Reynolds number Re=800,
L/H=5, were performed with ten different grids sizes ranging from 320x64 until 1040x208 control
volumes, and the results were compared with the presented by Breuer et al. (2000). The mean drag
coefficient, the mean and variation of lift coefficient, and eddy-shedding Strouhal number of the
flow were compared. The differences on these parameters calculated with the 960x192 grid size
with the results of Breuer et al. (2000). were inferior to 5%. Therefore we use the grid size with
960x192 control volumes for the correct simulation of the unsteady laminar flow in the channel
with two mounted square bars.

Results
The structure of the flow in the channel changes dramatically with the bar separation distance
G/d. For the cases with bar separation distances of 5 and 4.5 the flow are steady. The flow behind the
bars has a recirculation zone of about 2d, the proximity of the channels walls inhibits the flow
instability. With 1.5G/d4.0 unsteady flow with only one present frequency in the flow were
found. The vortices shedding were for G/d<2 in anti-phase, and with G/d/2 the binary vortex street
can be characterized as in phase vortex shedding. The nondimensional eddy shedding frequency
were in these cases almost constant St=fd/Uo=0.24.
For the cases with G/d=0.5, 0.75 and 1 complex vortices structures were found, with a low
frequency modulation of the flows. The flows were a bistable behavior, leading to multiple flow
patterns for a single bar separation distance. Figure 2 shows instantaneous velocity vectors for the
case G/d=0.75. The velocity vectors show that the vortices shedding from the lower bar are bigger
than the shedding from the upper bar. This behavior change with the low frequency that modulate this
flow, the flow biassed either upward or downward in a periodic form.The nondimensional eddy
shedding low frequency were in these cases around St=fd/Uo=0.08.
The influences of the flow behaviour on the mean values of the drag coefficient of the bars,
Cd=D/(1/2Uo2d), and the mean pressure drop in the channel or apparent friction factor,
f=PH/Uo2L, are shown in the Figure 3. The drag coefficients of the two bars and the apparent
friction factor decrease with G/d. For the cases with a low frequency modulation of the flow the mean
drag coefficients on the two bars are different.

Conclusions
In this paper, numerical simulations to explore the laminar
square bars mounted side by side to the approaching flow were
shedding have been captured by solving the continuity and the
dimensions. Computations were made for eleven transverse bar

fluid flow in a channel with two

employed. The effects of vortex
Navier-Stokes equations in twoseparation distances, G/d for a

constant Reynolds number. The numerical results reveal the complex structure of the flow. With
G/d=5 and 4.5 steady flow were found. With 1.5 G/d 4.0 unsteady flow with only one present
frequency in the flow were found, and with G/d/2 the binary vortex street can be characterized as in
phase vortex shedding. For the cases with G/d=0.5, 0.75 and 1 complex vortices structures were
found with a bistable nature and low frequency modulation of the flow.
Acknowledgement.
The financial support received of CONICYT Chile under grant No 1010400 is gratefully
acknowledged.

References
Breuer, M., Bernsdord, J., Zeiser, T., Durst, F. (2000) Accurate computations of the laminar flow past
a square cylinder based on two different methods: lattice-Boltzmann and finite-volume, International
Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, 21, 186-196.
Valencia A (1999) Heat transfer enhancement due to self-sustained oscillating transverse vortices in
channels with periodically mounted rectangular bars, International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 42, 2053-2062.
Hayashi, M., Sakurai, A. (1986) Wake interference of a row of normal flat plates arranged side by
side in a uniform flow, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 164, pp.1-25.
Zdravkovich, M.M. (1977) Review of flow interaction between two circular cylinders in various
arrangements, ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering, Vol. 99, pp.618-632.
Patankar S.V.(1980) Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow, Hemisphere, Washington D.C.

Fig. 1. Definition of the geometry and integration domain.

Fig. 2. Instantaneous maps of velocity vector for G/d=0.75.

0.15
5

Cd lower cylinder
Cd upper cylinder
apparent friction factor

0.14
0.13

Cd

0.12
3

0.11
0.10

2
0.09

0.08

G/d

Fig. 3. Drag coefficients and apparent friction factor versus transverse separation between the bars.