Quasi-periodically developed flow in channels with arrays of in-line square cylinders

Abstract

In this stub article, we show that laminar quasi-periodically developed flow is characterized by velocity and pressure modes which decay exponentially along the main flow direction. As the amplitudes of these modes exhibit streamwise periodicity, they can be determined on a single transversal row of the array. Their shape and corresponding decay rate are governed by an eigenvalue problem which generalizes the Orr-Sommerfeld equation for quasi-developed Poiseuille flow. By means of full-scale channel flow simulations, we numerically investigate the onset point, extent, eigenvalues and perturbation sizes of quasi-periodically developed flow in channels with equidistant in-line square cylinders, assuming a parabolic inlet velocity profile. In particular, the dependence on the mass flow rate, the aspect ratio and height of the channel is discussed, considering three porosities of the cylinder array (0.75, 0.89 and 0.94), and Reynolds numbers from 20 to 300, based on a reference length of twice the channel height. It is observed that the region of quasi-periodically developed flow covers a large part of the region of flow development in the channel. Therefore, the corresponding eigenvalues explain largely the observed scaling laws for the onset point of periodically developed flow.