How Fluids Flow Around Circular Cylinders (and Tesla Cybertrucks!)
Simulating external flow around a circular cylinder with COMSOL Multiphysics
According to the Stokes law, when a solid spherical body moves in a viscous fluid, the frictional force (also known as drag force) experiences is directly proportional to the velocity it is moving at, the radius of the sphere, and the viscosity of the fluid [1].
With this frictional force and the boundary conditions of the object (solid spherical body in this case), the fluid flow is affected, and different kinds of flows can be observed. In fact, even raindrops (with diameters lesser than 0.05 mm) falling from the sky follow the Stokes law [2] while the fluid flow of the air around the raindrop affects the shape it takes [3].
With external fluid flow playing a huge role in the way objects are designed, understanding how the fluid flows around an object is extremely pertinent when it comes to engineering.
As such, this article will look to study the effects of fluid flow around a spherical body. However, in order to make things simpler, the report will only consider the 2-dimensional fluid flow of air around a circular cylinder. At the same time, it is important to note that at small velocities (flows with Ma <= 0.3, (equivalent…
