UC Davis

Predictions are reported of the two-dimensional turbulent flow around a square cylinder with rounded corners at high Reynolds numbers. The effects of rounded corners have proved difficult to predict with conventional turbulence closures, and hence, the adoption in this study of a two-equation closure that has been specifically adapted to account for the interactions between the organized mean-flow motions due to vortex shedding and the random motions due to turbulence. The computations were performed using OPENFOAM and were validated against the data from flows past cylinders with sharp corners. For the case of rounded corners, only the modified turbulence closure succeeded in capturing the consequences of the delayed flow separation manifested mainly in the reduction of the magnitude of the lift and drag forces relative to the sharp-edged case. These and other results presented here argue in favor of the use of the computationally more efficient unsteady Reynolds- averaged Navier-Stokes approach to this important class of flows provided that the effects of vortex shedding are properly accounted for in the turbulence closure.