Dynamics of Stratified Flow past a Heated 2D Cylinder

Dynamics of stratified flow past a 2D cylinder has been studied extensively. Similarly, studies have also quantified the effect a heated cylinder has on flow going past it. Stratified flow is known to delay the vortex shedding regime and reduce mixing in the wake of the cylinder. On the other hand, a cylinder at a temperature higher than the background flow will generate a convective plume that can result in shifting the vortex-shedding regime to a lower Reynolds number. Thus, the effects due to stratification and heated cylinder compete to suppress and induce the wake, respectively. The current study couples the two effects and quantifies the dynamics of stratified flow past a heated 2D cylinder. The problem is defined using a Reynolds number (Re), densimetric Froude number (Fr D ) and a new non-dimensional number M that parametrizes the competition between the aforementioned physics. The dynamics is quantified using direct numerical simulations (DNS), where the Navier-Stokes equation and the equation for advective heat-transfer are solved using high-order spectral element method (SEM). Simulations are conducted to explore the parameter space defined by the non-dimensional numbers. The effect of M on the wake dynamics and the forces acting on the 2D cylinder is quantified.