Large Eddy simulation of turbulent flow past a circular cylinder in the subcritical and critical regimes

Large Eddy simulation (LES) results of turbulent flow past a circular cylinder for the specified Reynolds numbers (Re = 63100, 126000, 252000) are presented. An immersed boundary method was employed to facilitate implementation of a circular cylinder in a Cartesian grid system. A dynamic subgrid-scale model, in which the model coefficient is dynamically determined by the current resolved flow field rather than assigned a prefixed constant, was implemented for accurate turbulence modeling. For better resolution near the cylinder surface and in the separated free-shear layers, a composite grid was used. Flow statistics including mean and rms values of force coefficients and Strouhal number of vortex shedding, are presented. Flow visualization using vorticity or Q contours are also shown. Our results are in better agreement with the MARIN measurements compared with RANS calculations reported in the previous ITTC workshop, confirming that LES is a more appropriate simulation methodology than a RANS approach to predict VIV for marine structures.