Flow past two tandem circular cylinders using Spectral element method

In this paper, flow past around two circular cylinders which are tandem arranged at a Reynolds number of 200 is numerically investigated by spectral element method. To validate the numerical method for incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, the benchmark problem of flow over a single circular cylinder is employed, with the numerical results in a good agreement with the available literatures. Then, by changing the spacing ratios L/D from 1.2 to 10.0, the flow characteristics, including the flow patterns, force statistical parameters such as the drag and lift coefficients as well as wake oscillation frequencies (Strouhal numbers) are investigated. Numerical results show that there are around three wake flow patterns which are determined by the spacing ratio. In addition, the force parameters are highly affected by the flow patterns.