Flow Structure Control over the Square Cylinder with Inclined Splitter Plate: A Pathway to Conserving Energy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15282/ijame.22.4.2025.11.0988Keywords:
Turbulence control, Drag reduction, Flow-structure interaction, Bluff body, Flow fieldAbstract
Flow control over a square cylinder using an attached double splitter plate was numerically investigated at a Reynolds number of 104. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the splitter plate and angle of incidence on fluid forces, pressure distributions, and vortex-shedding. The two plates were positioned ¾ H apart, with various inclination angles. The vortex shedding frequency was typically obtained from lift fluctuation measurements, while the aerodynamic force coefficients acting on the model were determined from pressure distributions. This investigation explored characteristics of the vortex formation region, the location of flow separation, and reattachment points. The process also included the gradient pressure recovery corresponding to a minimum drag coefficient reduction. Suppressing lift fluctuation by tilting the plate a ³ 10° negated drag reduction. It was attributed to the pressure gradient effect rather than solely to lift fluctuation frequency. At zero angle of incidence (a), the drag coefficient of a square cylinder decreased by approximately 39.3%. Drag reduction was maximum at about a £ 5° and reached the peak reduction at a = 2.5°, with a 43.8% reduction compared to the bare square cylinder. Additionally, drag reduction achieved with the double splitter plate was twice that of the single splitter, achieving about 20.3%. This study recommended an optimal drag reduction by tilting the plate at an angle of 5 ° or less. Drag reduction provides a means to reduce the energy required to move objects.
References
[1] S. K. Mishra and S. Tiwari, “Wake interaction of inline circular and square section cylinder at Re = 150,” in Proceeding of 10th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC), Connecticut: Begellhouse, 2025, pp. 625–634.
[2] S. Behara, V. Chandra, and B. Ravikanth, “Characterizing vibrations and associated wake structures of tandem square cylinders at different angles of incidence,” Physics of Fluids, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 1–7, 2024.
[3] F. X. Trias, A. Gorobets, and A. Oliva, “Turbulent flow around a square cylinder at Reynolds number 22,000: A DNS study,” Computers & Fluids, vol. 123, pp. 87–98, 2015.
[4] K. Y. Billah and R. H. Scanlan, “Resonance, Tacoma Narrows bridge failure, and undergraduate physics textbooks,” American Journal of Physics, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 118–124, 1991.
[5] F. Duan and J. Wang, “Fluid-structure-sound interaction in noise reduction of a circular cylinder with flexible splitter plate,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 920, p. A6, 2021.
[6] J. Van der Krieke and G. Van Raemdonck, “Analyzing fuel savings of an aerodynamic drag reduction device with the aid of a robust linear least squares method,” SAE International Journal of Commercial Vehicles, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 675–684, 2014.
[7] Y. Niu and B. A. Younis, “Computational study and field implementation of methods for the control of vortex shedding from a bridge caisson,” Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics, vol. 19, no. 1, p. 2504677, 2025.
[8] Y. Liu, Y. Li, J. Li, J. Zhou, and X. Qiu, “The wake characteristics and hydrodynamic forces of a near-wall circular cylinder with the splitter plate,” Modern Physics Letters B, vol. 38, no. 33, p. 2450316, 2024.
[9] W. Shan, Q. Yang, K. Guo, C. Chen, W. Zhen, and Y. C. Kim, “Across-wind response characteristics of tall-square towers in urban flow: An experimental study focused on the aeroelastic effects,” Physics of Fluids, vol. 36, no. 3, p. 037104, 2024.
[10] W. Lei, Q. Wang, Y. Zhang, and Z. Li, “Study on VIV performance of streamlined steel box girder of a sea-crossing cable-stayed bridge,” Ocean Engineering, vol. 295, pp. 1–8, 2024.
[11] N. Curry and P. Pillay, “Integrating solar energy into an urban small-scale anaerobic digester for improved performance,” Renewable Energy, vol. 83, pp. 280–293, 2015.
[12] M. M. Zdravkovich, “Review and classification of various aerodynamic and hydrodynamic means for suppressing vortex shedding,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 145–189, 1981.
[13] S. M. Dash, M. S. Triantafyllou, and P. V. Y. Alvarado, “A numerical study on the enhanced drag reduction and wake regime control of a square cylinder using dual splitter plates,” Computers & Fluids, vol. 199, p. 104421, 2020.
[14] B. Barman and S. Bhattacharyya, “Control of vortex shedding and drag reduction through dual splitter plates attached to a square cylinder,” Journal of Marine Science and Application, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 138–145, 2015.
[15] G. R. S. Assi and P. W. Bearman, “Transverse galloping of circular cylinders fitted with solid and slotted splitter plates,” Journal of Fluids and Structures, vol. 54, pp. 263–280, 2015.
[16] J. Y. Shao, L. Zhang, and J. D. Wen, “Vortex induced coupled vibration of an elastically mounted square cylinder with a detached solid and flexible plate,” Ocean Engineering, vol. 283, p. 115092, 2023.
[17] G. Guan, K. He, P. Wang, H. Xu, G. Liang, Y. Wang, et al., “Study on the parameters of detached dual splitter plates and comparison with single plate for VIV suppression,” Ocean Engineering, vol. 284, p. 115183, 2023.
[18] M. S. M. Ali, C. J. Doolan, and V. Wheatley, “Low Reynolds number flow over a square cylinder with a detached flat plate,” International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, vol. 36. pp. 133–141, 2012.
[19] L. O. A. Barata, E. Ngii, T. Kiwata, and T. Kono, “Enhancing dynamic response of cantilevered rectangular prism using a splitter plate as a passive turbulence control in water tunnel,” Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences, vol. 91, no. 2, pp. 1–14, 2022.
[20] L. O. A. Barata, T. Kiwata, and Sudarsono, “Micro-electricity generation from wind-induced vibration with magnetostrictive material-based energy harvester,” e-Prime-Advances in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Energy, vol. 9, p. 100637, 2024.
[21] T. Shima, T. Kiwata, S. Takeuchi, T. Kono, and T. Ueno, “Effect of a splitter plate on the performance of magnetostrictive flow-induced vibrational power generator using a cantilevered circular cylinder,” Transactions of the JSME (in Japanese), vol. 90, no. 933, pp. 23–00257, 2024.
[22] R. Natarajan, Y. Sambath, S. Chinnasamy, C. Manimuthu, A. Mohanty, and M. E. M. Soudagar, “Effect of plate length on drag reduction of square faced bluff body,” in E3S Web of Conferences, vol. 488, p. 03012, 2024.
[23] F. Ren, F. Zhang, Y. Zhu, Z. Wang, and F. Zhao, “Enhancing heat transfer from a circular cylinder undergoing vortex induced vibration based on reinforcement learning,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 236, p. 121919, 2024.
[24] P. Dey, “Enhancement of thermo-fluid performance of square cylinder by dual splitter plates,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 238, p. 107849, 2023.
[25] A. Ashouri, E. Izadpanah, Y. Amini, and S. H. Meraji, “Effects of splitter plate and mass ratio on flow-induced vibration and heat transfer characteristics of a circular cylinder in turbulent flow: A numerical study,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 222, p. 125168, 2024.
[26] J. Y. Hwang and K. S. Yang, “Drag reduction on a circular cylinder using dual detached splitter plates,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 95, no. 7, pp. 551–564, 2007.
[27] L. O. A. Barata, T. Kiwata, A. Rachman, Samhuddin, and N. Endriatno, “Numerical investigation of flow around finite height rectangular,” CFD Letters, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 154–175, 2023.
[28] E. M. J. Komen, L. H. Camilo, A. Shams, B. J. Geurts, and B. Koren, “A quantification method for numerical dissipation in quasi-DNS and under-resolved DNS, and effects of numerical dissipation in quasi-DNS and under-resolved DNS of turbulent channel flows,” Journal of Computational Physics, vol. 345, pp. 565–595, 2017.
[29] T. Kajishima and K. Taira, Computational Fluid Dynamics, no. 9783319762333. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2017.
[30] A. Mashhadi, A. Sohankar, and M. M. Alam, “Flow over rectangular cylinder: Effects of cylinder aspect ratio and Reynolds number,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 195, p. 106264, 2021.
[31] W. M. Henk Kaarle Versteeg, An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics: The Finite Volume Method. Pearson Education Limited, 2007.
[32] Ansys.com, “36.13. Performing Time-Dependent Calculations.” Accessed: Feb. 14, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://ansyshelp.ansys.com/public/account/secured?returnurl=/Views/Secured/corp/v242/en/flu_ug/flu_ug_sec_solve_calc_time.html?utm_source
[33] A. Inc., “ANSYS Fluent Theory Guide v17.1,” ANSYS 17.1 Doc., vol. 15317, p. 850, 2016, [Online]. Available: http://www.ansys.com
[34] W. L. Oberkampf and T. G. Trucano, “Verification and validation in computational fluid dynamics,” Progress in Aerospace Sciences, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 209-272, 2002.
[35] W. L. Oberkampf and M. F. Barone, “Measures of agreement between computation and experiment: Validation metrics,” Journal of Computational Physics, vol. 217, no. 1, pp. 5–36, 2006.
[36] H. Bai and M. M. Alam, “Dependence of square cylinder wake on Reynolds number,” Physics of Fluids, vol. 30, no. 1, p. 015102, 2018.
[37] Okajima A, “Strouhal number of rectangular cylinders,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 123, pp. 379–398, 1982.
[38] S. Mizukami, “Study on the flow around the elastically supported prism and the vibration dynamics of the flow. (in Japanese),” Master Thesis, Kanazawa University, 2017.
[39] D. Yu, K. Butler, A. Kareem, J. Glimm, and J. Sun, “Simulation of the influence of aspect ratio on the aerodynamics of rectangular prisms,” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, vol. 139, pp. 429–438, 2013.
[40] A. Sohankar, “Large eddy simulation of flow past rectangular-section cylinders: Side ratio effects,” vol. 96, pp. 640–655, 2008.
[41] D. A. Lyn, S. Einav, W. Rodi, and J.-H. Park, “A laser-Doppler velocimetry study of ensemble-averaged characteristics of the turbulent near wake of a square cylinder,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 304, pp. 285–319, 1995.
[42] C. W. Knisely, “Strouhal numbers of rectangular cylinders: A review and new data,” Journal of Fluids and Structures, vol. 4, pp. 371–393, 1990.
[43] K. Shimada and T. Ishihara, “Application of a modified k–ε model to the prediction of aerodynamic characteristics of rectangular cross-section cylinder,” Journal of Fluids and Structures, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 465–485, 2002.
[44] K. R. Sharma and S. Dutta, “Flow control over a square cylinder using attached rigid and flexible splitter plate at intermediate flow regime,” Physics of Fluids, vol. 32, no. 1, p. 014104, 2020.
[45] A. R. Ogunremi and D. Sumner, “The effect of a splitter plate on the flow around a finite prism,” Journal of Fluids and Structures, vol. 59, pp. 1–21, 2015.
[46] J. Wang, B. Zhou, G. Jin, Z. Liu, H. Xu, and G. Zhang, “Experimental study on the wake control of a square cylinder mounted with dual rigid/flexible splitter plates in the subcritical regime,” Ocean Engineering, vol. 285, p. 115334, 2023.
[47] Y. Sun, J. Wang, Z. Hu, K. Lin, and D. Fan, “Transition of FIV for a circular cylinder with splitter plates,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 227, p. 107429, 2022.
[48] D. Kay, M. Morris, N. Hill, G. Simbolotti, and G. Tosato, “Automotive weight and drag reduction,” The Energy Technology Systems Analysis Program, pp. 1–7, 2011. [Online] Available: https://iea-etsap.org/E-TechDS/PDF/T18_Automotive weight and drag reduction v2bis.pdf
[49] T. Tamura and P. P. N. Dias, “Unstable aerodynamic phenomena around the resonant velocity of a rectangular cylinder with small side ratio,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 91, no. 1–2, pp. 127–138, 2003.
[50] W. S. Abbasi, S. Nadeem, A. Saleem, and H. Rahman, “Improvement of vortex shedding control and drag reduction on a square cylinder using twin plates,” The International Journal of Modern Physics C, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 1–2, 2025.
[51] P. Sikdar and S. M. Dash, “Effect of pitching splitter plate on the wake topology and drag reduction of two square cylinders in tandem arrangement,” Ocean Engineering, vol. 330, p. 121283, 2025.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
