Rotating elliptic cylinders in a viscous fluid at rest or in a parallel stream

Abstract

Numerical solutions are presented for laminar incompressible fluid flow past a rotating thin elliptic cylinder either in a medium at rest at infinity or in a parallel stream. The transient period from the abrupt start of the body to some later time (at which the flow may be steady or periodic) is studied by means of streamlines and equi-vorticity lines and by means of drag, lift and moment coefficients. For purely rotating cylinders oscillatory behaviour from a certain Reynolds number on is observed and explained. Rotating bodies in a parallel stream are studied for two cases: (i) when the vortex developing at the retreating edge of the thin ellipse is in front of the edge and (ii) when it is behind the edge.