Direct numerical simulation of heat transfer from the stagnation region of a heated cylinder affected by an impinging wake

Abstract

The effect of an incoming wake on the flow around and heat transfer from the stagnation region of a circular cylinder was studied using direct numerical simulations (DNSs). Four simulations were carried out at a Reynolds number (based on free-stream velocity and cylinder diameter D) of Re = 13200: one two-dimensional (baseline) simulation and three three-dimensional simulations. The three-dimensional simulations comprised a baseline simulation with a uniform incoming velocity field, a simulation in which realistic wake data - generated in a separate precursor DNS - were introduced at the inflow plane and, finally, a simulation in which the turbulent fluctuations were removed from the incoming wake in order to study the effect of the mean velocity deficit on the heat transfer in the stagnation region. In the simulation with realistic wake data, the incoming wake still exhibited the characteristic meandering behaviour of a near-wake. When approaching the regions immediately above and below the stagnation line of the cylinder, the vortical structures from the wake were found to be significantly stretched by the strongly accelerating wall-parallel (circumferential) flow into elongated vortex tubes that became increasingly aligned with the direction of flow. As the elongated streamwise vortical structures impinge on the stagnation region, on one side they transport cool fluid towards the heated cylinder, while on the other side hot fluid is transported away from the cylinder towards the free stream, thereby increasing the heat transfer. The DNS results are compared with various semi-empirical correlations for predicting the augmentation of heat transfer due to free-stream turbulence.