Wall effects on flows past two tandem cylinders of different diameters

Flows past two tandem cylinders of different diameters placed centrally in a channel with fixed centre-to-centre spacing 6D and diameter ratio γ=1.5 are simulated based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). In all the simulations, the diameter of the smaller cylinder is chosen as the characteristic length. The Reynolds number based on the average inflow velocity is 20–120 and studies are over the range of blockage ratio 2–8. In both Small-Big Arrangement (SBA) and Big-Small Arrangement (BSA), the effects of the channel width and Reynolds number on the flow structures and force coefficients are studied. Results show that the flows in BSA are more regular than those in SBA for the same flow fields. In BSA with 4D ≤H ≤ 8D and Re=100, the force coefficients all fluctuate with constant amplitudes and a coupled frequency, the coupled frequency becomes small as the blockage ratio decreases and by an exact test we give out the relation of the blockage ratio and Strouhal number. As the blockage ratio decreases to 2, there exist pitchfork bifurcations in both SBA and BSA, and results show that the critical Reynolds numbers of pitchfork bifurcations for SBA and BSA are both between 60 and 80. In SBA with Re=80, the flow structure has a static asymmetric mode. It is found that the channel width has also an effect on the critical spacing where the flow changes from single body mode into co-shedding mode. By an accurate survey on flows past two cylinders with equal diameters placed inside a channel with the width, the relation between channel width and the critical spacing is given and results show that the critical spacing increases as the channel width increases.