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Simultaneous reduction of drag and lift by half-rotation from the perspective of force element analysis for flow past a circular cylinder or a sphere at moderately low Reynolds numbers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2025

Sheng-Sheng Lu Open the ORCID record for Sheng-Sheng Lu [Opens in a new window]  and
Chien-Cheng Chang Open the ORCID record for Chien-Cheng Chang [Opens in a new window]
Sheng-Sheng Lu
Affiliation:
College of Mechanical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, Guangxi, PR China School of Marine Engineering Equipment, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022 Zhejiang, PR China
Chien-Cheng Chang*
Affiliation:
Institute of Applied Mechanics College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
*
Corresponding author: Chien-Cheng Chang, [email protected]
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Abstract

The reduction of the hydrodynamic forces exerted on a bluff body in an incoming flow has been an issue of interest in fluid mechanics for many years. However, the Magnus effect indicates possible drag reduction but with the lift being increased significantly. This study is aimed at the simultaneous lift and drag reduction for which we consider a constant incoming flow past a circular cylinder or a sphere in the $x$-direction. Force element analysis (FEA) indicates the possibility of reducing the drag exerted on a circular cylinder or a sphere by rotating (say, clockwise about the $z$-axis) only the front half of the circular cylinder or the sphere. More precisely, we rotate the object but with the rear half covered by a closely spaced hood. Numerical simulations show that by increasing the dimensionless rotational speed $\alpha$: (i) the flow can be quickly stabilised to a steady state; (ii) the mean drag steadily decreases to zero and then becomes negative as $\alpha$ is further increased across the critical $\alpha _I = 4.11$ for the circular cylinder at $Re$ = 200, $\alpha _I = 4.81$ for the sphere at $Re$ = 200 and $\alpha _I = 4.92$ for the sphere at $Re$ = 300; (iii) the mean value of the lift decreases from zero to negative and then increases beyond zero, and in addition, the amplitude of the lift gradually decreases for the circular cylinder; the mean value of the lift decreases from zero to negative for the sphere; (iv) the side force is almost zero – the flow over the sphere is plane-symmetric about the $x{-}y$ plane. These features are compared with the flow past a rotating circular cylinder or a rotating sphere (Magnus effect). Notably, there is a range of flows that can be of practical use for: (a) the circular cylinder where the drag is greatly reduced while the lift is small in magnitude and (b) the sphere where the drag is greatly reduced while the lift is negative in magnitude and the side force is close to 0.

JFM classification

Flow Control: Drag reduction Vortex Flows: Vortex shedding Flow Control: Instability control
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 1009 , 25 April 2025 , A47
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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