Cross flow and free-surface

flowover a cylinde
r
CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. OBJECTIVE
3. SCOPE
4. METHODOLOGY
5. LITERATURE REVIEW
6. PRELIMINARY WORK
7. FLOW OVER FLAT PLATE
8. FLOW OVER A
CYLINDER
9. REFERENCES
What is cross flow?

• Flow of a fluid normal to objects or groups of objects such as cylinders.

• A crossflow is usually considered an External Flow.
• For objects inside a duct, or groups of objects, there will be an overall pressure gradient and the flow
may have some features of an internal flow.

What is free surface flow?

• Free surface flows are flows that involve a mobile interface between a liquid and the surrounding
immiscible atmosphere
• Computation of free surfaces is complex because of the continuous change in the location of the
interface
• Free surface flow problems are conducted to gain insight into flow physics to improve designs, increase
the efficiency and safety of marine vehicles
• Cross flow over a cylinder refers to the flow of a fluid across a cylinder that is oriented perpendicular
to the direction of the fluid flow
• OpenFOAM is a free, open source CFD software package that can be used to simulate and analyze
cross flow over a cylinder.
• Using OpenFOAM, complex flow patterns and forces that occur in cross flow over a cylinder can be
studied
• Useful for understanding the behavior of the fluid, predicting the performance of a device or structure,
and optimizing its design.
• In free surface flow over a cylinder, the fluid is flowing over a cylinder that is partially submerged in
the fluid.
• The movement of the fluid surface, and the forces and flow patterns that result, can be analyzed using
OpenFOAM in a similar way as for cross flow over a cylinder.
OBJECTI
VE
• To lay the foundation to study ship hydrodynamics using openfoam
SCOP
E• Flow over flatplate
• Flow through elbow

• Cross flow over cylinder with 100 to 1e6 reynolds number

• Steady flow and unsteady flow

• Free surface flow without body

• Free surface flow over a fixed cylinder

• Free surface flow over a free cylinder

METHODOLOGY
• Use open-source CFD software OpenFOAM to analyze the cross flow and free surface flow.
• OpenFOAM release version V2106
• Numerical simulations are carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Study of various mesh strategies for flow over a square cylinder using
OpenFOAM
Aravind Satheesh Kumar et al.(2020), studied the flow over a square cylinder to understand the forces
that act on the body and the reactions that the body experiences. Three meshes were designed and
calculation were carried out using RANS Navier Stokes Equation. A square cylinder was analyzed for
different Mesh Strategies at a Reynolds Number of 200. It was found that the course mesh over predicted
the results, and the medium and fine mesh gave accurately equal results, therefore taking computational
efficiency into account, the medium mesh was chosen for further studies.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2. Prediction of steady flows passing fixed cylinders using deep learning
Hiroto Ozaki and Takeshi Aoyagi constructed a deep-learning model that can predict steady fluid flow
passing many fixed cylinders. The present deep-learning model has the potential to be used for the
acceleration of the simulation of a multiphase flow because the model is able to predict the flow velocity
field around many fixed cylinders with a very short inference time.
LITERATURE REVIEW
3. Breaking Wave Interaction with a Vertical Cylinder and the Effect of
Breaker Location

Kamath et al.(2016) Performed the study of plunging breaking wave forces on a vertical cylinder. The
different locations for the cylinder placement based on the breaker location are determined from the
results obtained for the wave breaking process in a two-dimensional numerical wave tank.
LITERATURE REVIEW
4. Interactions between a rectangular cylinder and a free-surface flow

S. Malavasi et al.(2007) provide an analysis of the nature of the dependence of average force coefficients
on relevant dimensionless groups, i.e., the Reynolds number, normalized flow depth and cylinder
submersion.
LITERATURE REVIEW
5. An overset mesh approach for a vibrating cylinder in uniform flow

Farouk Omar Hamdoon et al.(2022) studied the accuracy and the capability of the present overset mesh
approach, using two test types of cylinder vibration : crossflow and inline vibrations. The numerical
simulation is performed for a circular cylinder vibrating in uniform flow at Re = 100.
LITERATURE REVIEW
6. A Comparative Study of Breaking Wave Loads on Cylindrical and Conical
Substructures

Chatzimarkou, E. and Michailides (2021) performed a comparative study of different cylindrical and
conical substructures under breaking wave loading with OpenFOAM capable of the development of a
numerical wave tank (NWT).
LITERATURE REVIEW
7. Numerical Investigation of 2D Turbulent Flow past a Circular Cylinder at
Lower Subcritical Reynolds Number

K M Sowoud et al.(2020) studied the wake zone of a smooth circular cylinder with identical geometry
placed horizontally perpendicular to the free-steam flow at different Reynolds number. The pressure
coefficient (Cp) and drag coefficient (Cd) of the cylinder were also calculated. ANSYS-Fluent with K-Ɛ
turbulence model were used for this study.
 PRELIMINARY
WORKS
• To familiarise the software : flow in an elbow as taken as an example, then from the tutorial
got a first hands-on glimpse into the workflow of cfd simulations with openfoam and learn
about.
• The basic case setup of openfoam
• Running the simulation of the flow in a 2d elbow case with three different meshes
- Elbow Tri-Mesh
- Elbow Quad-Mesh
- Elbow Quad-Refined
• As post processing: Imported the simulation to paraview, extract data to make two diagrams
of pressure and velocity magnitude along a line between two tubes and done the same for all
three simulations.
 Elbow Quad-Mesh

No of cells : 8938
 Elbow Tri-Mesh

No of cells : 3290
 Elbow Quad-Refined

No of cells : 35522
FLOW OVER FLAT
PLATE
The flow is studied for 2 different flow conditions
• NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and FUN3D).
•NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD.
Condition 1
•NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and
FUN3D).
•Four cases of different near wall thickness is studied that is of 0.5 micron, 1 micron, 2 micron
and 4 micron.
•No of cells remains the same
FLOW OVER FLAT PLATE
Condition 2
• NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using
TCFD.
• Flow is studied for near wall thickness of 0.5 micron.
GEOMET
RY
Domain 2D
Flow Steady 2.25m

Viscous regime Turbulent

outle
Inlet
Governing Equation RANS 1m

t
Length of full domain (m) 2.25 Flat plate
Length of flat plate (m) 2
0.25m 2m
Height of domain (m) 1
Inlet region length (m) 0.25
Mesh
No:of cells in X axis(flat 200
plate)
No:of cells in X axis 24
(upstream)
No:of cells in Y axis 96
Total no: of cells 21504
Element length in x axis 0.01m
 BOUNDARY
CONDITIONS
Condition 1: NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and
●
FUN3D)
● Condition 2: NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD
Condition 1: Condition 2:

Inlet velocity (m/s) 68.815 Inlet velocity (m/s) 50

Outlet pressure (Pa) 0 Outlet pressure (Pa) 0
No-slip condition at surface of flat plate No-slip condition at surface of flat plate
Medium used Air Medium used Air
Kinematic viscosity (/s) 1.3728 E-5 Kinematic viscosity (/s) 1.5 E-5
CONDITION
1 NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and FUN3D).
●
● Flow is studied for different near wall thickness of 0.5 micron, 1 micron,
2 micron and 4 micron.
Grid size Adjacent wall Average +
layer
thickness (m)

225x97 0.5 x 10-6 0.04

(finest)

225x97 1 x 10-6 0.09

225x97 2 x 10-6 0.19

-6
VELOCITY
CONTOUR
Inlet velocity (m/s) = 68.6m
PRESSURE CONTOUR
Outlet pressure (Pa)
VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION
Numerical analysis of the flat plate having 2m length, with a reference area of 2m2 ,
for the given turbulent flow condition is compared with the analytical results for the
same conditions.

There are 3 levels of verification and validation

● Wall shear stress
● Skin friction coefficient
● Velocity profile
WALL SHEAR
STRESS Wall shear stress for turbulent
condition (analytical value)
1
0.0135 (white 2011)
=

1
kg/3
7

is the density
=µ1 =1.372e-5 Pa s
ERROR % (Wall shear
stress)
Dist.
from
Anyl.
Wall
0.5 micron 1 micron 2 micron 4 micron

leadin Num. Error Num. Error Num. Error Num. Error

value % value % value % value %
g stress
shear
edge
(m)

0.25 8.5507 7.7697 9.1342 7.7317 9.5788 7.6578 10.4425 7.6593 11.8267

0.5 7.7445 6.9834 9.8273 6.9523 10.2295 6.8963 11.303 6.7937 12.2775

0.75 7.3086 6.5766 10.0156 6.5503 10.3772 6.4946 11.1384 6.4066 12.3423

1 7.0143 6.3114 10.215 6.2869 10.7312 6.2364 11.0911 6.1530 12.2799

SKIN
FRICTION Skin friction (analytical value)

=
1
2 2
ERROR %(skin friction) WITH
ANALUTICAL VALUES
Percentage error Distance from leading edge (m)
in value
0.25 0.5 0.75 1
0.5 micron 9.1342 9.8273 10.0156 10.215
1 micron 9.5788 10.2295 10.3772 10.7312
2 micron 10.4425 11.303 11.1384 11.0911
4 micron 11.8267 12.2775 12.3423 12.2799
ERROR % (Skin friction) with
CFL3D
Percentage
error with
Distance from leading edge(m)

CFL3D for 0.25 0.5 0.75 1

0.5 micron 0.0836 0.0834 0.0847 0.1141

1 micron 0.4056 0.3630 0.3175 0.2750
2 micron 1.3574 1.2518 1.1642 1.0760
4 micron 2.8821 2.6361 2.5032 2.3988
ERROR % (Skin friction) with
FUN3D
Percentage error
with FUN3D for
Distance from leading edge(m)

0.25 0.5 0.75 1

0.5 micron 0.2626 0.1478 0.1119 0.1247

1 micron 0.2275 0.2990 0.2904 0.2645
2 micron 1.1810 1.1884 1.1373 1.065
4 micron 2.7084 2.5730 2.4762 2.3884
VELOCITY
PROFILE
Yw+ vs DISTANCE FROM LEADING
EDGE OF THE PLATE

Yw+ for 0.5 micron wall adjacent cell Yw+ for 1 micron wall adjacent cell
thickness thickness
Yw+ vs DISTANCE FROM LEADING
EDGE OF THE PLATE

Yw+ for 2 micron wall adjacent cell thickness Yw+ for 4 micron wall adjacent cell thickness
CONDITION
2
● NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD.
● Flow is studied for a near wall thickness of 0.5 micron(lesser error from previous study)
● The geometry is created using blockMesh in OpenFOAM.

Grid size 225x97

Wall adjacent layer thickness (m) 0.5 x 10-6

Avg. Yw+ 0.04

Boundary
conditions
Flow Steady Viscous regime Turbulent

Governing equation RANS

Turbulent Model k-omega SST

Inlet velocity (m/s) 50

Outlet pressure (Pa) 0

Kinematic viscosity (/s) 1.5 E-

5
WALL SHEAR
STRESS Wall shear stress for turbulent
condition (analytical value)

1 6 13
0.0135 7 7 7
= 1
( White 2011)
7

density = 1
µ =1.8e-5 Pa s
ERROR % (Wall shear
stress) Distance from leading edge (m)
0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Anly. Value 4.8134 4.3595 4.1142 3.9485

Num. Value 4.4203 3.9597 3.7238 3.5698

Error % 8.1669 9.1718 9.4875 9.5908

SKIN
FRICTION
ERROR %(skin friction) WITH
ANALUTICAL VALUES
Cf Distance from leading edge (m)
0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Anly. Value 0.0039 0.0035 0.0033 0.0032

Num. Value 0.0035 0.0032 0.0030 0.0092

Error % 8.1669 9.1718 9.4875 9.5908

VELOCITY
PROFILE
Yw+ vs DISTANCE FROM LEADING
EDGE OF THE PLATE
 CONCLUSION (Flat
•
plate)
The flow was studies for 2 conditions and were verified and validated with analytical and
benchmarks by NASA.
•It was found out that the mesh with lower wall adjacent layer thickness of 0.5 micron gives
the most accurate value in all.
•The results of wall shear stress and skin friction is valid with the NASA TCFD results.
FLOW OVER A
CYLINDER
Laminar condition
Domain 2D
Flow Steady
Type Laminar
Solver simpleFoam
Inlet velocity (m/s) 0.054
Diameter(m) 0.05
Kinematic viscosity (Pa s) 1.5 E-5
Reynolds number 180
MES
H
Mesh is generated uing blockMesh in OpenFOAM
PRESSURE
CONTOUR
VELOCITY
CONTOUR
 FUTURE
•
WORK
A cylinder is placed in different flow conditions and flow characters are studied using OpenFoam
•Free surface flow without body will also be studied.
•
FUTURE
WORKS
REFERENCE
S
1Kumar, A.S., Singh, A., Gaur, N. and Kannan, B.T., 2020, November. Study of various mesh strategies
for flow over a square cylinder using OpenFOAM®. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2277, No. 1, p.
230001). AIP Publishing LLC.

2Ozaki, H. and Aoyagi, T., 2022. Prediction of steady flows passing fixed cylinders using deep learning.
Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-12.

3Kamath, A., Chella, M.A., Bihs, H. and Arntsen, Ø.A., 2016. Breaking wave interaction with a vertical
cylinder and the effect of breaker location. Ocean Engineering, 128, pp.105-115.

4Malavasi, S. and Guadagnini, A., 2007. Interactions between a rectangular cylinder and a free-surface
flow. Journal of Fluids and Structures, 23(8), pp.1137-1148.

5Hamdoon, F.O., Jaber, A.A. and Flaieh, E.H., 2022. An overset mesh approach for a vibrating cylinder
in uniform flow. Curved and Layered Structures, 9(1), pp.396-402.
REFERENCE
S
6Chatzimarkou, E. and Michailides, C., 2021. A Comparative Study of Breaking Wave Loads on
Cylindrical and Conical Substructures. Water, 13(7), p.924.

7Sowoud, K.M., Al-Filfily, A.A. and Abed, B.H., 2020, July. Numerical Investigation of 2D Turbulent
Flow past a Circular Cylinder at Lower Subcritical Reynolds Number. In IOP Conference Series: Materials
Science and Engineering (Vol. 881, No. 1, p. 012160). IOP Publishing.

8Daneshi, M., 2016. Numerical investigation of the fluid flow around and past a circular cylinder by
ANSYS simulation. Int. J. Adv. Sci. Technol, 92, pp.49-58.

9Godderidge, B., Phillips, A.B., Lewis, S.G., Turnock, S.R., Hudson, D.A. and Tan, M., 2008. The
simulation of free surface flows with Computational Fluid Dynamics.

10 White.F.M,(2008). Fluid mechanics. 7th Ed. New York: The McGraw-Hill

REFERENCES
11Yazdi, J., Sarkardeh, H., Azamathulla, H.M. and Ghani, A.A., 2010. 3D simulation of flow around
a single spur dike with free-surface flow. Intl. J. River Basin Management, 8(1), pp.55-62.

12Spence, S., 2014. Numerical investigation of free surface flows (Master's thesis, Institutt for marin
teknikk).
THANK
YOU