CFD analysis of the steady flow across a tapered trapezoidal cylinder

Abstract

In this paper, two-dimensional incompressible laminar flow past a long tapered trapezoidal cylinder is examined in the steady flow regime. The governing Navier-Stokes equations along with appropriate boundary conditions are solved by using a finite volume method based CFD solver FLUENT (6.3). The computational grid is created in a commercial grid generator GAMBIT. The flow patterns are presented by streamline and velocity magnitude profiles. The wake length and drag are calculated for the range of conditions studied here. The wake length increases with increasing value of the Reynolds number; however, the mean drag coefficient decreases with increasing value of the Reynolds number for the range of conditions investigated here.