Obstacle arrangement can control flows through porous obstructions

Previous work suggests that the arrangement of elements in an obstruction may influence the bulk flow velocity through the obstruction, but the physical mechanisms for this influence are not yet clear. This is the motivation for this study, where direct numerical simulation is used to investigate flow through an array of cylinders at a resolution sufficient to observe interactions between wakes of individual elements. The arrangement is altered by varying the gap ratio G/d (1.2 – 18, G is the distance between two adjacent cylinders, d is the cylinder diameter), array-to-element diameter ratio D/d (3.6 – 200, D is the array diameter), and incident flow angle (0^◦ − 30^◦). Depending on the element arrangement, it is found that the average root-mean-square lift and drag coefficients can vary by an order of magnitude, whilst the average time-mean drag coefficient of individual cylinders (C_d), and the bulk velocity are found to vary by up to 50 % and a factor of 2, respectively. These arrangement effects are a consequence of the variation in flow and drag characteristics of individual cylinders within the array. The arrangement effects become most critical in the intermediate range of flow blockage parameter Γ_D́ = 0.5 − 1.5 (Γ_D́ = C_daD/(1 − φ), where a is frontal element area per unit volume, and φ is solid volume fraction), due to the high variability in element-scale flow characteristics. Across the full range of arrangements modelled, it is confirmed that the bulk velocity is governed by flow blockage parameter but only if the drag coefficient incorporates arrangement effects. Using these results, this paper proposes a framework for describing and predicting flow through an array across a variety of arrangements.