Investigations of Flow Past Axially Aligned Spinning Cylinders

This study investigates flow around spinning and non-spinning cylinders using both Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methods. The novel RANS model incorporates swirl and rotation effects through a modified energy spectrum and parametric modeling of coefficients. The LES methods employ a continuous turbulence model applicable to both sub-grid-scale and Reynolds stresses. Computational results are presented for RANS and LES models and validated against new experimental data obtained from a subsonic wind tunnel across a range of spin rates and flow conditions. The experiments cover a Reynolds number range of up to 300000 and rotation numbers of up to 2 (based on cylinder diameter). This work compares the performance, efficiency, and applicability of these approaches to an engineering system of interest.