Air Flow Analysis of a Rotating Cylinder through Numerical Simulation

Abstract

The complete flow field surrounding a rotating cylinder is calculated by solving the Navier-Stokes equations using the finite difference method. The numerical simulation is performed on a transformed rectilinear grid, with axes representing the radial and angular dimensions. Different boundary conditions of the simulations are tested by changing the tangential speed of the rotating cylinder, ranging from subsonic to supersonic speed. The following variables in the modeled flow fields are analyzed: temperature, velocity, pressure, density, and stress. The large gradient of velocity near the cylinder is found to create high stress, which leads to rise in temperature. Pressure and density near the cylinder decreases as the speed of the cylinder increases. The proposed simulation method and analysis of air flow can be extended to the modeling of air flow around a Diabolo.