Effect of wall slip on laminar flow past a circular cylinder

Abstract

A numerical study of two-dimensional flow past a confined circular cylinder with slip wall is performed. A dimensionless number, Knudsen number ($Kn$) is used to describe the slip length of cylinder wall. The Reynolds number ($Re$) and Knudsen number ($Kn$) ranges considered are $Re = [1, 180]$ and $Kn = [0, \infty)$, respectively. Time-averaged flow separation angle ($\bar{\theta_s}$), dimensionless recirculation length ($\bar{L_s}$) and the tangential velocity ($\bar{u_{\tau}}$) distributed on the cylinder's wall, drag coefficient ($\bar{C_d}$) and drag reduction ($DR$) are investigated. The time-averaged tangential velocity distribution on the cylinder's wall fit well with the formula $\bar{u_{\tau}} = [\frac{\alpha}{1+{\beta}e^{-{\gamma}({\pi}-{\theta})}}+{\delta}]sin(\theta) $, where the coefficients ($\alpha$, $\beta$, $\gamma$, $\delta$) are related with $Re$ and $Kn$. Several scaling-laws are found, $log(\bar{u_{{\tau}max}})\sim{log(Re)}$ and $\bar{u_{{\tau}max}}\sim{Kn}$ for low $Kn$, ($\bar{u_{{\tau}max}}$ is the maximum tangential velocity on the cylinder's wall), $log(DR)\sim{log(Re)}$ ($Re\leq45$ and $Kn\leq0.1$), $log(DR)\sim{log(Kn)}$ ($Kn\leq0.05$). At low $Re$, $DR_v$ (the friction drag reduction) is the main source of $DR$. However, $DR_p$ (the differential pressure drag reduction) contributes the most to $DR$ at high $Re$ ($Re>\sim60$) and $Kn$ over a critical number. $DR_v$ is found almost independent to $Re$.