Numerical analysis of flow around cylinders

Fluid flow around bluff bodies such as circular, square and elliptic cylinders are basic problems in fluid mechanics and has gained much interest in the recent years. These cylinders open a way in order to explore compound shape that can hide their external flow effects. Construction engineers model cylinders in some places like offshore structures, bridge piers, tall buildings, etc. Cylinders are an example where the simplicity of fluid is investigated in all three ways analytical, computational and experimental. This thesis discusses the modelling and analyzing of flow around cylinders by utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A range of Reynolds numbers varying from 2 to 1*107 were employed in analyses to determine the drag coefficient and flow pattern. Simulations of two-dimensional flow around vertical cylinders were carried out by utilizing shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence closure model. The outcomes of this study were compared with the experimental results in the literature.