Laminar flow past an abruptly accelerated elliptic cylinder at 45° incidence

Abstract

Numerical solutions for laminar incompressible fluid flows past an abruptly started elliptic cylinder at 45° incidence are presented. Various finite-difference schemes for the stream-function/vorticity formulation are used and their merits briefly discussed. Almost steady-state solutions are obtained forRe= 15 and 30, whereas forRe= 200 a Kármán vortex street develops. The transient period from the start to the steady or quasi-steady state is investigated in terms of patterns of streamlines and lines of constant vorticity and drag, lift and moment coefficients.