International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Influence of height ratio on flow and heat transfer around trapezoidal

geometry (a generic sharp-edged body) covering transition to periodic
flow
Malik Parveez a, Amit Kumar Dhiman b,⇑, G.A. Harmain c
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Hazratbal 190 006, India
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667, India
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Hazratbal 190 006, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Flow around an isolated generic sharp-edged object with varying height ratio (b = 0–1) i.e. height from
Received 1 August 2017 the rear end of the object to the front end (b ¼ H2 =H1 ) has been investigated in cross-flow configuration
Received in revised form 21 February 2018 covering steady and periodic regimes at Reynolds number (Re) from 1 to 150 using air as a working fluid.
Accepted 29 March 2018
Flow separation is delayed with a decrease in b. Wake formed is the highest for b = 1 (square object) and
Available online 24 April 2018
progressively decreases with the decrease in b. The vortex shedding effect has been demonstrated on the
heat transfer phenomena around the objects. For all the cases of height ratios, as Re increases the flow
Keywords:
undergoes supercritical Hopf bifurcation to periodic state as steady-state condition loses its stability.
Tapered cylinder
Square cylinder
Stuart-Landau theory has been used to determine the value of critical Re or the onset of vortex shedding
Triangular cylinder for all the cases of height ratios. As b increases from 0 to 0.7, the value of critical Re increases. Influence of
Height ratio surface vorticity and surface pressure on the overall drag coefficient (C D ) has been explored. Effect of b on
Strouhal number the Strouhal number (St) has been investigated and the findings are in agreement with previous results.
Finally, correlations relating Lr, C D , Nu and St with Re and b have been developed.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction various flow parameters, although the bluff character of an object

Flow past an object is usually accompanied by periodic vortex
shedding under unsteady flow conditions. The vortex formation
behind a bluff body is strongly affected by its shape besides flow
conditions. Although flows around circular cylinders have been
investigated widely, however relatively less number of articles
have appeared in the literature regarding other geometries such
as trapezoidal, triangular and square shapes. Flow around the
square and trapezoidal objects (due to their more bluff character)
has generated some interest due to its various industrial applica-
tions. Trapezoidal shapes are more akin to such flow conditions
as electronic cooling, flow around buildings, various offshore struc-
tures, sensors and vortex flow meters. Trapezoidal shapes have a
wide spectrum which includes triangular and square shapes as
two extreme cases. These shapes are essentially dependent on
height ratio (b) which is expressed as the height of the rear end
of the object to the front end i.e. b ¼ H2 =H1 . Limited work has been
reported in the literature regarding the effect of height ratio on
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: amitdfch@iitr.ac.in (A.K. Dhiman).
is directly related to this parameter. Unlike circular geometry, the
trapezoidal shape has the full influence of height ratio as far as the
vortex shedding is concerned. Flow behind a bluff body (besides
the regular vortex shedding) induces vibration on the body
(dynamic load) and its understanding is important for many indus-
trial applications. The design, construction and operation of the
vortex flow-meters are fully dependent on the shape of bluff bod-
ies. The main aim of some applications is to produce a device
which is effective in the generation of strong vortices with mini-
mum losses in pressure and easily noticeable vortices.
Present work is focussed on the study of free stream flow over a
bluff body with variable height ratio. The relationship between
heat transfer and flow regimes (for steady and unsteady flow con-
ditions) around different configurations is obtained in an uncon-
fined domain. The purpose of the study is also to obtain a
correlation between different engineering parameters with Re
and b.
Most of the research presented in open literature has been on a
circular cylinder using analytical, numerical and experimental
approaches [1–5] and now the focus of the research is also on non-
circular cross-section bluff bodies. Viscous flow around rectangular

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.03.105
0017-9310/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1286 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

Nomenclature


A amplitude Re Reynolds number qul1 B
Ae equilibrium amplitude
Rec critical Reynolds number
B front object width (=H1), m
rms root mean square
cp specific heat of fluid, J kg1 K1
St Strouhal number (=fB=u1 )
c1 constant
t time, s
Cv control volume

Tp time period for one cycle, s
CD overall drag coefficient ¼ q2F D
u21 B
¼ C Dp þ C Dv

 T temperature, K
2F
CDp pressure drag coefficient ¼ qu2DpB Tw constant wall temperature of solid surface, K

1
 T1 stream temperature, K
CDv viscous drag coefficient ¼ q2Fu2DvB

 1 u stream-wise velocity, m s1
CL lift coefficient ¼ q2F L u1 free-stream velocity, m s1
u21 B

 U non-dimensional stream-wise velocity (=u=u1 )
Cp pressure coefficient ¼ q2uD2p v cross-stream velocity, m s1
1

f vortex shedding frequency, s1 V non-dimensional cross-stream velocity (=v =u1 )

FD drag force on the object, N m1 x stream-wise coordinate, m
FDp pressure drag force on the object, N m1 X non-dimensional stream-wise coordinate (=x=B)
FDv viscous drag force on the object, N m1 Xd downstream distance
FL lift force on the object, N m1 Xu upstream distance
g acceleration due to gravity, m s2 Xh height of the domain
h local heat transfer coefficient, W m2 K1 y cross-stream coordinate, m
h average heat transfer coefficient, W m2 K1 Y non-dimensional cross-stream coordinate (=y=B)
H1 front height of the object, m
H2 rear end height of the object, m Greek notations
k coefficient of thermal conductivity, W m1 K1 b height ratio (ratio of objects rear height to front end)
l Landau constant d size of the Cv clustered around the object
Lr wake length, m

h non-dimensional temperature ¼ TTT 1
w T 1
Nu local Nusselt number ð¼ hB=kÞ
Nu 
average Nusselt number ð¼ hB=kÞ l dynamic viscosity of the fluid, kg m1 s1
p pressure, N m2 q density of the fluid, kg m3
P non-dimensional pressure ð¼ qup2 Þ s non-dimensional time (=t=ðB=u1 Þ)
1
 lc  r exponential growth rate of amplitude (constant)
Pr Prandtl number ¼ k p
xs Surface vorticity

object was presented by Steggel and Rockliff [6] while considering
the effect of various values of side ratios for Re  1000. The com-
puted value of Strouhal number (St) is higher than that obtained
from the experimental study. It was found that for Re = 200 that
drag coefficient (C D ) increased with decreasing height ratio. It
was concluded from that investigation that the shape/geometry
of the body had the direct effect on the shedding characteristics
due to the interaction between separated shear layers. Experimen-
tal investigation of the flow past dual triangular objects in circular
pipe of 50 mm diameter has been conducted by Peng et al. [7]. Nine
different combinations of objects (with separation distance) in the
range of 35–65 mm have been used in that investigation. It was
concluded that the frequency detection by the dual triangular
object was better than that of the single object.
Flow characteristics for cylinders of equal diameters (using PIV
technique) have been reported by Akilli et al. [8] for Re = 5000.
Asymmetrical structures were formed on the rear side of cylinders
at small gap ratio and symmetrical flow structures were formed at
intermediate gap ratio for three cylinders in a row. Igarashi [9]
analysed fluctuating pressure problem to visualise flow pattern
for different objects. The circular cylinder with slit was shown to
have the strongest vortex shedding. Trapezoidal object based vor-
tex shedding with different height ratios has been reported for Re
= 100, 150 and 200 by Chung et al. [10]. The lowest values of Strou-
hal number were obtained at height ratios of 0.7 (St = 0.136) and
0.85 (St = 0.141) for Re = 100 and 150 respectively. There is a sharp
rise in the value of Strouhal number (St = 0.150) for Re = 200 at
height ratio of 0.7 in comparison with other values of Re. The shift
in the point of flow separation from rear to front corners was com-
pared between height ratios of 0.7 and 1 which had the influence
on shedding structures. Further, no information was provided for
the transition as well as drag and lift coefficients. Heat transfer
related work was also not reported in that study.
The vortex shedding was experimentally investigated on a
trapezoidal body by Goujon-Durand [11] and presented velocity
oscillations in the wakes of the flow stream. Dhiman and Ghosh
[12] studied flow around expanded trapezoidal object covering
the range of Re = 1–150. It was reported that the periodic transition
occurred between Re = 47 and 48. A sharp decline in drag coeffi-
cient with the increase in Re had been observed. After Re = 90 the
drag started to increase. Kahawita and Wang [13] presented some
results on instabilities behind an object. The results confirmed the
experimental findings of Goujan-Durand [11] and it was reported
that at lower Re, Strouhal number did not change because of small
base width. It was concluded that the trapezoidal shape was more
desirable than other objects because of clean separation.
A simulation study for flow past the shedder inside the vortex
meter had been performed by Wahed et al. [14] at Re = 9125 and
it was reported that shedder shape affected the vortices and T-
shaped object produced larger vortices. The vortices were more
concentrated near the centreline and provided the basis for placing
the sensor at the centre. Lee [15] studied the laminar flow in the
range of 25 < Re < 1000. The transition from steady flow was not
reported and regarding temperature profile, no results had been
provided in that study.
Venougopal et al. [16] obtained appropriate bluff body shape for
vortex flow meter applications. Due to higher amplitude signals,
the trapezoidal object was found to be the better in comparison
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1287

Fig. 1. Computational domains for the flow and heat transfer around the different objects along with associated parameters.

with the triangular object. Heat transfer around tapered object was domain dimensions) have been used. A variable (b) i.e. rear end
investigated by Dhiman and Hasan [17] at Re = 1 to 150 for air height of the object to the fixed front end height (=H2 =H1 ) is chosen
working fluid. It was observed that there was no flow separation in this study. The distance between the inlet and front face of an
below Re = 5. The St and the average Nusselt number Nu increased object has been chosen as Xu (=15) and between the trailing face
with Re. However, the effects of height ratio were not reported in of an object and the outlet is Xd (=30). Further, the projected width
that study. Sharma et al. [18] investigated the characteristics of of the object is fixed as B (=H1). The non-dimensional distance in
heat transfer around a square cylinder for Re varying from 1 to the lateral direction of the computational domain is chosen as Xh
160. The flow started to separate between Re = 1 and 2, whereas (=30). These dimensions have been arrived at after a thorough
the transition to time-periodic flow occurred in between Re = 40 numerical study (the details are given in Section 3).
and 50.
The effect of height ratio is limitedly available in the literature 2.1. Necessary equations and boundary conditions
although Chung and Kang [10] reported some studies related to
the effect of height ratio on the shedding characteristics for a 2.1.1. Flow field
trapezoidal object (no information had been provided regarding For incompressible flow the fluid having a constant viscosity,
the flow separation, transition to time-periodic and heat transfer Navier-Stokes equations (dimensionless) in 2D form are given as
phenomena in that study). However, Dhiman et al. [17] covered follows:
the study around the tapered object for a fixed height ratio. An Continuity equation
attempt has been made in the current investigation to study flow
around the object for variable height ratios (b = 1, 0.7, 0.3 and 0). @U @V
The emphasis is to create the numerical database and to develop þ ¼0 ð1Þ
@X @Y
correlations between output parameters such as drag coefficient,
X-momentum equation
Nusselt number and Strouhal number with respect to Re and
!
height ratio (b) of the object.
@U @ðUUÞ @ðVUÞ @P 1 @2U @2U
þ þ ¼ þ þ ð2Þ
@s @X @Y @X Re @X 2 @Y 2
2. Problem description
Y-momentum equation
A fixed two dimensional (2D) object having four different con-
!
figurations (with varying rear surface height) is exposed to free @V @ðUVÞ @ðVVÞ @P 1 @2V @2V
stream velocity u1 and temperature T 1 , as depicted in Fig. 1. The þ þ ¼ þ þ ð3Þ
@s @X @Y @Y Re @X 2 @Y 2
object is maintained at T w ð> T 1 Þ in artificial boundaries where free
slip conditions are imposed. After performing domain indepen-
where U ¼ uu1 , V ¼ uv1 , s ¼ tuB1 , X ¼ Bx, Y ¼ By, P ¼ qup21
dence studies, four grids of different configurations (with identical
1288 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

Fig. 2. Computational grid structures around the objects studied.

Table 1
Grid independence test showing the values of engineering parameters for grids having height ratio b = 1, 0.7, 0.3 and 0 at Re = 150 and Pr = 0.71 along with corresponding
deviation.

b Total No. Cv on each Smallest grid size CD % CDrms % Nu % Nurms % St %

of cells side of object around objects d deviation deviation deviation deviation deviation
1 66,296 100 0.01 1.4365 0.01 0.0149 0.68 4.8053 0.04 0.0015 0 0.1565 0.13
77,005 125 0.008 1.4363 – 0.0148 – 4.8035 – 0.0015 – 0.1567 –
94,650 150 0.007 1.4371 0.06 0.0150 1.35 4.8024 0.02 0.0015 0 0.1565 0.13
0.7 67,406 100 0.01 1.6545 0.05 0.0220 1.85 4.6349 0.05 0.0089 1.11 0.1418 0.20
81,251 125 0.008 1.6537 – 0.0216 – 4.6327 – 0.009 – 0.1416 –
94,650 150 0.007 1.6545 0.05 0.0216 0 4.6314 0.03 0.0091 1.11 0.1416 0
0.3 67,406 100 0.01 2.0955 0.07 0.0421 1.20 4.8882 0.03 0.2123 1.53 0.1541 0.20
90,971 125 0.008 2.0969 – 0.0416 – 4.8865 – 0.2091 – 0.1538 –
96,024 150 0.007 2.1082 0.54 0.0406 2.40 4.8823 0.09 0.2104 0.62 0.1538 0
0 56,906 100 0.01 2.1667 0.01 0.0541 0.19 5.0554 0.07 0.1015 0.10 0.1587 0
67,626 125 0.008 2.1670 – 0.0540 – 5.052 – 0.1016 – 0.1587 –
79,074 150 0.007 2.1681 0.05 0.0539 0.19 5.0498 0.04 0.1016 0 0.1592 0.32
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1289

Table 2
Time independent study showing the values of engineering parameters for grids having height ratio b = 1, 0.7 and 0 at Re = 150 and Pr = 0.71 along with corresponding deviation.

b Time step CD % deviation CDrms % deviation Nu % deviation Nurms % deviation St % deviation

1 0.04 1.4366 0.02 0.0153 3.38 4.8073 0.08 0.0015 0 0.1563 0.26
0.01 1.4363 – 0.0148 – 4.8035 – 0.0015 – 0.1567 –
0.005 1.4362 0.01 0.0149 0.68 4.8035 0 0.0015 0 0.1566 0.06
0.7 0.04 1.6644 0.65 0.0225 4.17 4.6550 0.48 0.0094 4.44 0.1390 1.84
0.01 1.6537 – 0.0216 – 4.6327 – 0.0090 – 0.1416 –
0.005 1.6533 0.02 0.0215 0.46 4.6277 0.11 0.0086 4.44 0.1420 0.28
0 0.04 2.1649 0.10 0.0525 2.78 5.0509 0.02 0.1005 1.08 0.1582 0.32
0.01 2.167 – 0.0540 – 5.0520 – 0.1016 – 0.1587 –
0.005 2.1658 0.06 0.0540 0 5.0525 0.01 0.1014 0.20 0.1586 0.06

Table 3
Domain dependence test carried out for b = 1 and 0 for upstream at Re = 1, for downstream and height at Re = 150.

Distance CD % deviation CDrms % deviation Nu % deviation Nurms % deviation St % deviation

Xu b=1
15 13.1922 – – – 0.6898 – – – – –
20 13.0555 1.04 – – 0.6883 0.22 – – – –
b=0
15 11.7856 – – – 0.7854 – – – – –
20 11.6705 0.98 – – 0.7839 0.19 – – – –
Xd b=1
31 1.4363 – 0.0148 – 4.8035 – 0.0015 – 0.1567 –
36 1.4363 0 0.0149 0.67 4.8035 0 0.0015 0 0.1567 0
51 1.4279 0.58 0.0141 4.96 4.7983 0.10 0.0015 0 0.1553 0.90
61 1.4279 0.58 0.0141 4.96 4.7959 0.16 0.0015 0 0.1552 0.96
b=0
31 2.1670 – 0.0540 – 5.0520 – 0.1016 – 0.1590 –
36 2.1667 0.014 0.0541 0.18 5.0554 0.07 0.1015 0.10 0.1585 0.32
51 2.1426 1.14 0.0524 3.05 4.9027 3.04 0.1014 0.20 0.1575 0.95
61 2.1427 1.13 0.0524 3.05 4.9026 3.05 0.1014 0.20 0.1575 0.95
Xh b=1
30 1.4363 – 0.0148 – 4.8035 – 0.0015 – 0.1567 –
35 1.4332 0.22 0.0149 0.67 4.8026 0.02 0.0015 0 0.1565 0.13
b=0
30 2.1670 – 0.0540 – 5.0520 – 0.1016 – 0.1590 –
35 2.1601 0.32 0.0535 0.93 5.0511 0.02 0.1012 0.39 0.1580 0.63

Table 4
Validation of the present results for tapered (b = 0.7) [17] and square (b = 1) [18] objects in terms of wake length (Lr/B) and drag coefficient (CD).

Re Lr/B CD
Present (b = 1) [18] (b = 1) Present (b = 1) [18] (b = 1) Present (b = 0.7) [17] (b = 0.5)
5 0.3006 0.336 4.6495 4.7945 4.4182 4.322
10 0.626 0.672 3.2083 3.3716 3.0455 3.0078
20 1.3226 1.344 – – 2.1971 2.1693
30 2.068 2.016 – – 1.8567 1.8126

Table 5
Validation of present results for a square cylinder (b = 1) with the literature [10,20–24] at Re = 100.

Source CD % deviation St % deviation

Present 1.46 – 0.145 –
Chung and Kang [10] 1.46 0 0.141 3.45
Okajima [21] 1.45 0.68 0.14 3.45
Norberg et al. [24] – – 0.143 1.38
Robichaux et al. [20] 1.53 4.7 0.154 6.2
Arnal et al. [22] 1.39 4.8 0.14 3.45
Sohankar et al. [23] 1.48 1.37 0.146 0.69
1290 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

Table 6
Validation of present results for objects b = 1, 0.7 and 0.3 with the literature [10,12,17,18] at Re = 150.

b Present [10] % deviation w.r.t. [10] [17] % deviation w.r.t. [17]

St
1 0.1567 0.1475 6.24 – –
0.7 0.1416 0.1419 0.21 0.1458 2.88
0.3 0.1538 0.1555 1.09 – –
Present [18] % deviation w.r.t. [18] [17] % deviation w.r.t. [17]

Nu
1 4.8035 4.8385 0.72 – –
0.7 4.6327 – – 4.6769 0.90
Present CD [12] % deviation w.r.t. [12] Present CDrms [18] % deviation w.r.t. [18]
CD and CDrms
1 1.4363 1.4375 0.08 0.0148 0.0149 0.67

Fig. 3. Streamlines around the objects in the steady flow regime for Re = 1, 10 and 30.

The (dimensionless) flow boundary conditions are 2.1.2. Temperature field

Far away from the object, the fluid is at uniform temperature T 1
Inlet (left boundary): Outlet (right boundary): and the fluid exchanges heat (as object temperature T w > T 1 ). The
@U @V viscous dissipation and buoyancy effects are neglected, the non-
@X ¼ 0; @X ¼ 0
U = 1, V = 0
Object solid surface: U Artificial boundaries (top and dimensional form of energy equation is given as
!
= 0, V = 0 bottom): @U@Y ¼ 0; V = 0 @h @Uh @Vh 1 @2h @2h
þ þ ¼ þ ð4Þ
@ s @X @Y Re Pr @X 2 @Y 2
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1291

Fig. 4. Onset of flow separation (a and b) for b = 1 and Re = 1–2, (c and d) for b = 0.7 and Re = 3–4 using x-velocity contours.

The (dimensionless) thermal boundary conditions are 3. Numerical details

@h ANSYS Workbench has been used to generate computational

Inlet (left boundary): Outlet (right boundary): @X ¼0
h¼0 grids with decreasing height ratios of the object (b = 1–0), as
Object solid surface: Artificial boundaries (top and shown in Fig. 2.
h¼1 bottom): @Y@h
¼0
3.1. Grid structure and time step

The first derivative normal to the outflow boundary has been
set to zero for velocities and temperature at the outlet in the
current investigation for both the steady as well as unsteady
periodic regimes and chosen on the basis of previous studies
available in the open literature [6,10,12,17,18]. However, an
excellent discussion on the use of more suitable outlet
boundary conditions for unsteady flows can be found else-
where [19].
The grid dependence study has been performed for all the four
grids with decreasing height ratios b of objects ranging from 1 to 0
i.e. square to triangle configurations. The grid test is carried out for
the values of b = (1, 0.7, 0.3 and 0) with Cv = (100, 125 and 150) and
for Re = 150 and Pr = 0.71. The relative deviations in the values of
engineering parameters CD, CDrms, Nu, Nurms and St are calculated
for all the grid sizes and the details are provided in Table 1. On
comparing the deviations, the cell sizes 77,005, 81,251, 90,971
and 67,626 are established to be the appropriate for b = 1, 0.7,
0.3 and 0 respectively with Cv = 125.
1292 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 5. Temporal variation of lift coefficient for b = 0 (a and b) at Re = 37–38, for b = 0.3 (c and d) at Re = 40–41 and b = 0.7 (e and f) at Re = 48–49.
In order to determine the optimum value of the time step, three
different values of the non-dimensional time step (0.04, 0.01 and
0.005) are studied at Re = 150 and b = 1, 0.7 and 0. The relative
deviations in the values of physical parameters CD, CDrms, Nu, Nurms
and St are calculated and given in Table 2. The results are compared
with respect to time step 0.01 and this value is found to be the suit-
able for further analysis.
3.2. Domain size dependence
The upstream dependence is presented in Table 3 for Xu = 15
and 20 for the extreme height ratios (b = 1 and 0) and the study
is carried out for Re = 1 and Pr = 0.71. The relative deviation in CD
and Nu for Xu = 15 with respect to 20 is reported in Table 3. On
analysing the relative deviations, the non-dimensional upstream
distance of 15 has been found to be appropriate for all the grids.
The non-dimensional downstream distances Xd = 31, 36, 51 and
61 are tested for the grid independence. This test is carried out for
the extreme grids of the objects b = 1 and 0 at the highest Re (=150)
considered for Pr = 0.71. Table 3 provides the details of the compar-
ison between the values of output parameters such as CD, CDrms, Nu,
Nurms and St for Xd = 31 with respect to the higher downstream
distances. It is pertinent to mention that the value of CD, Nu, Nurms
and St displayed the deviations of about 1.14%, 3.04%, 0.40%, 0.96%
respectively, whereas CDrms displayed a deviation of about 5% after
the downstream distance is almost doubled for a square geometry.
Bearing in the mind the sensitivity of CDrms with respect to down-
stream distance, a non-dimensional downstream distance of 31 is
used in the current investigation to save computational time
[12,17].
The domain height is fixed by varying Xh from 30 to 35 for Re =
150 and Pr = 0.71. This study is focused on all the grids generated
with height ratio varying from b = 1 to 0. Table 3 also provides
the comparison for different output parameters such as CD, CDrms,-
Nu, Nurms and St for Xh = 30 with respect to Xh = 35 for the extreme
height ratios of objects (b = 1 and 0). On analysing the relative
changes in the output parameters of interest, the non-
dimensional domain height of 30 is found suitable for further
investigations.
3.3. Solution methodology
Commercial computational fluid dynamics solver ANSYS (Flu-
ent) has been used to solve the governing equations (continuity,
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1293

Fig. 6a. A2e -Re characteristics in the immediate vicinity of suppression or bifurcation point at b = 0, 0.3, 0.7 and 1.

Table 7
Data fit correlations generated in the immediate vicinity of suppression or bifurcation
point for all the values of b.

Height Data fit relation Goodness of Critical Reynolds

ratio (b) Ae ffi ½c1 ðRe  Rec Þ1=2 fit R2 number (Rec)

0 ¼ 1:82ðRe  38:60Þ1=2 0.98 38.60

0.3 ¼ 5:08ðRe  41:06Þ1=2 0.95 41.06
0.7 ¼ 4:03ðRe  48:10Þ1=2 0.99 48.10
1 ¼ 3:79ðRe  45:01Þ1=2 0.99 45.01

Navier-Stokes and energy) along with suitable boundary condi-

tions. Gauss-Siedel iterative procedure in combination with the
algebraic multi-grid method solver has been invoked to solve the
resulting algebraic equations. The absolute residuals of the equa-
tions used are 1015 in the steady regime and 1020 in an unsteady
regime. The convective and diffusive terms are discretized by
second-order upwind scheme and central difference scheme
respectively with a second order implicit time-integration method
for discretizing time derivatives.
Fig. 6b. Regime map in (Re-b) parametric space, separating the unsteady regime
from the steady flow regime.
4. Results and their discussions

The investigation covered here shows heat and flow character-

istics around the object with different height ratios (b = 1–0) at Re parameters like CD, CDrms, CL, St, Nu, Nurms and Nu are evaluated.
= 1–150 and Pr = 0.71. Present results are compared with The study is extended to find the periodic transition for b = 1, 0.7,
appropriate available open literature. The important engineering 0.3 and 0. Empirical correlations are developed to obtain the
1294 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 7. Instantaneous streamlines around the objects in an unsteady periodic flow regime for Re = 50, 100 and 150.
relation between energy, drag and other parameters of interest
covering a wider range of height ratio.
The validation details of the present study with the relevant
results available are given in Table 4 for establishing fidelity of
the code. On comparing the dimensionless Lr/B values of present
work, for b = 1 at Re = 10, 20 and 30, the deviation with respect
to a square cylinder as reported in [18] is found to be about 0.9%,
1.6% and 2.5% respectively. Similarly, the change in CD is found
as 3.0% and 4.8% for Re = 5 and 10 (present work is compared with
[18] for b = 1). However, the deviation for the values of drag coef-
ficient is found to be about 2.2%, 1.2%, 1.3% and 2.3% between the
values of present study and the work reported in [17] for b = 0.7
and at Re = 5, 10, 20 and 30 respectively. Furthermore, a compar-
ison with the work reported in the literature [10,12,17,18,20–24]
has been given in Tables 5 and 6 for different b at Re = 100 and
150 respectively. The present values of CD, CDrms, St and Nu are in
close concurrence with the work reported in the literature, how-
ever, there is a slight variation in the value of St for b = 1 at Re =
150 with respect to [10]. This may be attributed to the difference
in the number of cells, time step and downstream distance of the
present study and work reported in [10]. For instance, the study
[10] chosen a time step of 0.05, whereas the present work has been
carried out for a time step of 0.01. There is a significant difference
in the number of cells of present work and [10]. The downstream
distance for present work is 31, whereas the study [10] has used
a downstream distance of 25.5.
4.1. Flow features
Fig. 3 depicts the findings (streamlines) in the immediate sur-
roundings of the object with decreasing height ratio (i.e. b from 1
to 0) and Re = 1–30. Enlarged view shown in Fig. 4 for b = 1 and
0.7 indicates that the flow starts to separate for a square geometry
(b = 1) at the trailing edge of the object for Re  1 and  2. The
current results are in close conformity with the study of [18] for
the same case i.e. for a square cylinder. The separation with respect
to b = 0.7 occurs for Re  3 and  4, as shown in Fig. 4c and d
respectively. The flow separation for relatively lower height
ratios i.e. b = 0.3, occurs at Re  10 (as shown in Fig. 3 g) and for
b = 0, the flow starts to separate at the higher value of Re as shown
in Fig. 3l. Thus there is a delay in flow separation with the decrease
in height ratio. These results are in full agreement with the previ-
ous study [17], where it has been demonstrated that for b = 0.5 the
flow separates from Re = 5 to 6. It is also observed from Fig. 3e, f, g
and h that twin vortices first come into view in front of the square
cylinder and subsequently these vortices start to build for objects
with lower height ratios but at higher Re. Thus it can be concluded
that lower the height ratio, higher is the Re at which vortices
originate.
The demarcation of transition between the steady and time-
periodic regimes can be established by monitoring the values of
the physical parameters such as ‘‘lift coefficient”. The temporal
variation in CL is reported in Fig. 5a and b which present the peri-
odic transition for b = 0 that occurs between Re = 37 and 38. Simi-
larly, the periodic transition for b = 0.3 occurs between Re = 40 and
41 as seen in Fig. 5c and d. The periodic transition for b = 0.7 occurs
between Re = 48 and 49 (Fig. 5e and f). It was observed in the pre-
vious study [17] that the periodic transition for b = 0.5 occurs
between Re = 46 and 47 i.e. in between the b = 0.3 and 0.7 and
eventually enhances the validity of the present investigation. From
the aforementioned discussion, it is established that with the
increase in height ratio i.e. from b = 0 to 0.7, the periodic transition
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 8. Instantaneous streamlines for the periodic flow around an object having b = 1 for different Reynolds number (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150.
also occurs at higher Re. Thus, it can be concluded that the height
of the rear end of the object plays an important part in determining
the value of Re at which the periodic transition occurs.
The simulations indicated that the onset of vortex shedding
occurs within the interval of 36  Rec  50 (where Rec is critical
Reynolds number) for all the height ratios (b = 0–1) of objects cov-
ered in this study. The actual onset values were predicted within
this interval using the linearized Stuart-Landau equation [25–27].
The existence of growth of unstable perturbation has been
checked for time steps of 100. As Re increases the flow behaviour
changes to periodic unsteady, as shown in Fig. 5. The evolution of
perturbation is exponential with oscillations from small values
(with respect to base flow) which results in stable periodic flow.
The perturbation suffers instability in an exponential form of
the type ert (where r is growth rate) and Re(r) > 0. This indicates
that flow undergoes supercritical Hopf bifurcation in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the critical value of control parameter (Re). An
essential feature of a supercritical Hopf bifurcation is that for
increasing supercritical values of the control parameter, the
amplitude of stable oscillation varies as a square root of the differ-
ence between the related and critical value of control parameter.
Here in this study Re being the control parameter, the amplitude-
Re variation can be checked to obtain whether the bifurcation is
Hopf or not. On the basis of the critical value of the control
parameter obtained, the first-hand information on the onset of
instability can be inferred.
The non-linear growth of the amplitude of the oscillatory unsta-
ble mode is governed by Landau equation [27].


A2 ¼ 2rA2  lA4
1295


where A2 is the time derivative of A2 , ‘r’ is the initial exponen-
tial growth rate of amplitude (constant) and ‘l’ is the Landau con-
stant. For steady-state amplitude of the unstable mode, one can


use A2 ¼ 0, which relates equilibrium value of A with r and l
as A2e ¼ 2lr.
At a critical point, the equilibrium amplitude Ae can be
expressed asA2e aðRe  Rec Þ. This can be used to determine the value
of critical Reynolds number (Rec) from Ae-Re data. As shown in
Fig. 6a, the square of equilibrium oscillatory flow amplitude is plot-
ted with control parameter Re for different values of height ratios.
For all these cases of height ratios, the amplitude of the periodic
time series of lift coefficient (CL) is evaluated. The values of critical
Reynolds number are obtained for all values of b with Pr = 0.71.
The data fit correlations obtained for all the four cases of height
ratios have been generated and presented in Table 7. The critical
data generated using Stuart-Landau theory is employed to depict
the boundary separating the unsteady and steady regimes in (Re-
b) parametric space as shown in Fig. 6b. It can be observed that
the values of critical Reynolds number are in close agreement with
the transition plot given in Fig. 5. Further, it can be observed as b
increases from 0 to 0.7 the Rec also increases and the slight varia-
tion is attributed to round off errors. The critical Re for b = 1 is
found to be 45 which is less than the value found for b = 0.7 i.e.
Re = 48. This decrease in the value of critical Re is due to the height
of the rear side of the square object, and eventually the separation
point shifts from front end to rear end. The critical value of Re
obtained for b = 1 is in close conformity with the Refs. [18,28].
Beyond Re  50 the separation of the bubble occurs alterna-
ð5Þ
tively from the back edge of objects and proceeds because of
1296 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 9. Instantaneous streamlines for the periodic flow around an object having b = 0.7 for different Reynolds number (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150.
instability as shown in Fig. 7. There is a loss of symmetry around
the central axis for higher Re. It is observed for b = 1 (square cylin-
der) the flow starts to divide from upper and lower faces of the
object and with the increase in Re up to 100 (as shown in
Fig. 7e), the flow separates from the leading edges of the object.
As Re increases up to 150, as shown in Fig. 7i, the flow separates
from the edges of the objects and eventually re-attaches with the
bubble formed adjacent to the rear edge of the objects. Similar
observations have been reported in [10,18]. Considering the case
for the b = 0.7, as the flow detaches from the top and bottom faces
and subsequently the gap starts to build up between the flow and
top/bottom faces of the objects and eventually fluid entrainment
starts from the wake region to the gap formed as shown in
Fig. 7b, f and j. Similarly for the b = 0.3, as shown in Fig. 7c, g and
k, the gaps formed between the flow and faces (top and bottom)
of the objects increase in size than what has been observed in case
of b = 0.7. The fluid entrainment increases and subsequently the
bubble is formed in the gaps formed between the top as well as
bottom faces and the flow. It has been observed that as the height
ratio decreases the bubble formation shifts from the point near to
the rear edge of the objects to the gap developed between the flow
and the faces of objects. Finally for b = 0, as seen in Fig. 7d, h, and l,
the gap gets increased in size and eventually, fluid entrainment
also enhances.
Summarising the whole phenomena there seem to be the differ-
ent flow patterns starting with the flow without separation
(steady), followed by separation and eventually bubble gets
trapped on the back of objects. The phenomena followed by vortex
shedding i.e. time-periodic regime. The phenomena in unsteady
flow are different for all the cases of height ratios i.e. b = 1, 0.7,
0.3 and 0. It can be concluded that with the decrease in height
ratio, fluid entrainment enhances and the bubble formed adjacent
to the upper and lower faces of the objects rather than it is formed
adjacent to the rear edge of the objects.
Fig. 8a–l shows instantaneous streamlines in the immediate
vicinity of a square object (b = 1) for Re = 50–150 at four time
moments. Fig. 8a–d shows that the vortex shedding starts from
the bottom of the object at t ¼ Tp , while the fluid from the top of
the object is drawn into the wake zone. With time the recirculation
starts to grow near the top rear side of the object and the vortex
already formed starts to grow until it reaches the size where it
breaks off. The shedding process is repeated in the same manner.
The streamline developed, called instantaneous alleyways, is the
path taken by the fluid from above and below the object into the
recirculation region. Fig. 8a, e and i shows that these instantaneous
alleyways carry fluid above the object and around the developing
vortex in the recirculation region and the phenomenon is in con-
formity with [4,29]. It has also been observed from Fig. 8(a, e and
i) and (c, g and k) that the size of the bubble formed adjacent to
the rear corners of the object is bigger in size for lower Re and
decreases in size with the increase in Re.
Fig. 9a–l views the instantaneous streamlines of the object with
height ratio b = 0.7 for Re = 50, 100 and 150. The phenomenon of
vortex shedding is almost similar to what has been observed for
b = 1 i.e. for Re = 50 and 100, however for higher Re the formation
of bubble is too short and cannot be visualised. Also the wavering
motion increases as Re increases. Fig. 10a–l represents the instan-
taneous streamlines for b = 0.3 and the same above phenomenon is
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 10. Instantaneous streamlines for the periodic flow around an object having b = 0.3 for different Reynolds number (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150.
repeated here. The new thing observed is that because of gap
formed due to reduced height on the rear side of the object, the
fluid bubble is visualised near to the upper and bottom faces of
the object. Further the bubble/vortex formed is not circular in
shape when it is near to the object and with time, the vortex
retains its shape as it propagates. Fig. 11a–l depicts the instanta-
neous streamlines for a triangular cylinder (b = 0) for Re = 50, 100
and 150. The growth of the vortex is started adjacent to the upper
or bottom face of the object, and the shape of the bubble is almost
similar to that of the gap formed between the face of the object and
the adjacent streamline. As Re increases the time span between the
formations of two vortices gets reduced and both the vortices can
be seen at the same time frame as shown in Fig. 11i, j, k and l.
Fig. 12 shows the change in wake length (Lr/B) of the objects
with Re for different height ratios (b = 1, 0.7 and 0.3) in the steady
regime. Lr/B increases with the increase in Re for all b and which is
also observed in the literature [12,17,18,28]. The value of wake
length at a particular Re is higher for b = 1 followed by b = 0.7
and lastly by b = 0.3. The difference in the values of recirculation
length is larger between b = 1 and 0.7, but this difference consecu-
tively goes on decreasing with the increase in Re. Finally, the differ-
ence in the value of wake length gets very much reduced for b = 0.7
and 0.3 at higher Re. It is also observed from Fig. 12 that the values
of wake length in [17] for b = 0.5 lie in between b = 0.7 and 0.3 and
the behaviour is almost similar what has been observed for other
height ratios.
The values of wake length for a square cylinder [18,28] almost
overlap with the values of wake length for b = 1, as shown in
Fig. 12, thus further validates the present methodology. It can be
concluded that in steady regime the wake length decreases with
1297
the decrease in height ratio thus the rear height of the object plays
part in stretching of wake length. It has also been observed that
the wake region does not exist for Re  5 in case of b = 0.7 and
for Re  10 in case of b = 0.3 and even not shown for b = 0 thus
as b decreases from 1 to 0, wake length starts to build at higher
Re i.e. lowering the height ratio of the object, higher is the Re at
which wake is formed, thus the wake length was not measurable
for b = 0 at lower Re. The main reason behind this is the delay in
flow separation with the decrease in b at higher Re.
The change of Lr/B with Re is found to be the linear in steady
flow regime. The empirical correlation developed for a circular
cylinder for the range 4.4  Re  40 in [1,2] is Lr=B ¼ 0:05Re. Sim-
ilarly, for a square cylinder, the empirical correlation given in [18]
is Lr=B ¼ 0:0672Re for the range 5  Re  40. The following empir-
ical relation is developed between Lr/B and Re for different height
ratios b and for the range 5  Re  35.
Lr=B ¼ 0:0512Re1:087 ðfor b ¼ 1Þ ð6Þ
The maximum deviation for the present results with respect to
the value obtained from correlation (Eq. (6)) is reported as 1.96%,
0.06%, 0.5% and 0.15% for Re = 5, 10, 20 and 30 respectively.
Similar correlations between Lr/B and Re have been developed
for other height ratios as follows:
Lr=B ¼ 0:0078Re1:55 ðfor b ¼ 0:7Þ ð7Þ
The maximum deviation for the present results with respect to
the value obtained from Eq. (7) is reported as 1.40%, 1.55%, 0.90%
and 0.50% for Re = 5, 10, 20 and 30, respectively, for b = 0.7. It is
observed from the two correlations (Eqs. (6) and (7)) that as Re
1298 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 11. Instantaneous streamlines for the periodic flow around an object having b = 0 for different Reynolds number (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150.
Fig. 12. Recirculation length for different height ratios of objects along with the
values of square cylinder (b = 1) [18,28] and tapered object (b = 0.5) [17].
increases the percentage deviation between the computed results
and that of correlations goes on decreasing. Further it is to be noted
that the correlations of wake length for b = 0.3 and 0 are not devel-
oped, because of the reason that the wake length starts to build at
higher Re i.e. lower the height ratio of the object, higher is the Re at
which wake length is formed and as such limited data points are
available to generate the correlations for b = 0.3 and 0 at higher Re.
Furthermore, the time-averaged pressure distribution around
the surfaces of the objects is presented in Fig. 13 to explore the
effect of changing height ratio (b) from 1 to 0 and Re = 50, 100
and 150. It is observed that there is a noticeable change in pressure
coefficient Cp on the front edges of the objects because of flow sep-
aration. Further for all the cases, the pressure coefficient is higher
on the front side of the objects. It is further observed that for b = 1
the pressure distribution is almost same for all Re along the sur-
faces of objects. However on the tapered side of the objects, the
pressure distribution is not uniform, i.e. Cp is higher for lower Re
on the tapered side of the objects. This can be attributed to wake
generated between the wall of objects and flow of the fluid, which
causes pressure drop fluctuations.
The dimensionless time-averaged surface vorticity (xs) is pre-
sented in Fig. 14i to iv for visualisation of the effect of changing
height ratios from b = 1 to 0 with different values of Reynolds num-
ber (Re = 50, 100 and 150). The surface vorticity is plotted along
different positions of the objects. It is observed from Fig. 14 that
with the increase in Re the values of surface vorticity increases
for all the values of b. There is a sharp rise in surface vorticity near
the front edges for all the objects and sharp decline on the front
stagnation points (between A and D). It is observed for b = 1
(square object) that the values of surface vorticity decrease around
the rear edges of the object as flow does not separate. However as
the height ratio decreases i.e. from b = 0.7 to 0, the surface vorticity
starts to increase adjacent to the rear edges (B and C) of all objects.
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1299

Fig. 13. Time-averaged pressure coefficient Cp variation along the surfaces of the objects for b = 1–0 and Re = 50–150.

Fig. 14. Time-averaged surface vorticity xs variation along the surfaces of the objects for b = 1–0 and Re = 50–150.
1300 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

Fig. 15. Isothermal profiles around the objects in the steady flow regime for Re = 1, 10 and 30.

Fig. 16. Instantaneous isothermal profiles around the objects in an unsteady periodic flow regime for Re = 50,100 and 150.
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1301

Fig. 17. Instantaneous isotherm profiles for the object having b = 1 for (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150 in an unsteady (periodic) flow.

Fig. 18. Instantaneous isotherm profiles for the object having b = 0.7 for (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150 in an unsteady (periodic) flow.
1302 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

Fig. 19. Instantaneous isotherm profiles for the object having b = 0.3 for (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150 in an unsteady (periodic) flow.

Fig. 20. Instantaneous isotherm profiles for the object having b = 0 for (a–d) Re = 50, (e–h) Re = 100 and (i–l) Re = 150 in an unsteady (periodic) flow.
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1303

Fig. 21. Variation of the values of (a) pressure drag (b) viscous drag with Re in steady regime and (c) total drag coefficient with Re in steady and time periodic regimes for
different objects along with a thorough comparison with square cylinder (b = 1) [18,28] and tapered object (b = 0.5) [17].

Table 8 are more dominant in this steady regime. The turning of these iso-
Constants of the empirical Eq. (9). therms in steady flow regime sharpens progressively with the
decrease in height ratio, as shown in Fig. 15e–h. The isotherms
a 8531542308572.13 f 3.60981587030795E03
b 4.53407423830711E02 g 2.49024997915914 show evidence of stream wise stretching and temperature field
c 312823217981.039 h 11375389.7447644 that decays in steady flow regime with the increase in Re, as shown
d 1.38731951435275 i 1.79127880198187E04 in Fig. 15i–j, and the isotherms get congested compared to lower
e 3412616923.42944 j 3.03392405146187E02 value of Re. This demonstrates the effect of geometry/shape on the
isothermal profiles as well as on heat transfer. Fig. 16a–l depicts
the flow around the objects with decreasing height ratios in a
As the height of the rear end of the object decreases the flow starts time-periodic regime for Re = 50–150. The isotherms show waver-
to separate around the rear edges of the object and there is an ing motion and also the bending and thinning of neck with rise in
increase in surface vorticity. Thus, it can be concluded that the Re, eventually the wave gets detached at higher Re [18]. This is sim-
height of the rear end of the objects significantly effects the forma- ilar what has been observed in earlier section (flow features) that
tion of surface vorticity. On comparing Figs. 13 and 14 (surface vor- as Re increases the vortex gets developed and ultimately break off.
ticity and surface pressure data), it is observed that near stagnation Figs. 17–20 show the instantaneous isotherms for Re = 50–150
points i.e. at the centre of the front face of the object, the value of and b = 1, 0.7, 0.3, 0 at Pr = 0.71. As the flow does not get separated,
surface vorticity is minimum, while as the value of surface pres- it results in the congestion of isotherms near the faces of the
sure is high. objects. In comparison to other faces of the objects, the highest
congestion of isotherms is observed on the front edge of the objects
that results in the highest Nusselt number and corresponding
4.2. Heat transfer features enhancement in thermal boundary growth which are in agreement
with [12,18,28,30]. It has been observed that the wavering motion
Fig. 15a–l presents the isothermal profiles (isotherms) around of isotherms rises with increase in Re as well as with decrease in b
the objects with decreasing height ratio ranging from b = 1 to 0 in the time-periodic regime.
for Re = 1–30 and Pr = 0.71. Symmetry about the mid-plane is It is also observed that isotherms are extensively extended at
clearly visible at the low Re because of the fact that viscous effects low Re (=50) but are densely crammed for higher Re. For Re = 100
1304 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 22. Local Nusselt number variation around the surface of the objects with height ratio (a) b = 1, (b) b = 0.7, (c) b = 0.3 and (d) b = 0 in time independent regime for Re = 1,
5, 20 and 30.
and 150, it is observed that as t ¼ Tp , vortex starts to build (shaped
like a baby in the womb) and is smaller in size. Again as t ¼ Tp =4, it
shows the perfect shape of baby in the womb, and at t ¼ Tp =2 the
baby gets stretched, lastly the baby is in an inverted position at
t ¼ 3Tp =4 as the phenomena is repeated.
4.3. Drag coefficients
The overall drag coefficient around any object is expressed as
   
C D ¼ C Dv þ C Dp , where C Dv ¼ F Dv = 12 qu21 B , C Dp ¼ F Dp = 12 qu21 B ,
where F Dp and F Dv are the pressure and viscous drag forces respec-
tively. Fig. 21a–c shows the change of local and overall drag coef-
ficients with Re for different height ratios and a thorough
comparison has been performed with the literature [17,18,28].
Fig. 21a depicts the change of CDp which decreases with the
increase in Re. The zoomed view depicts that CDp of the objects
for b = 0 is higher and decreases with increase in height ratio for
all values of Re. Fig. 21b also shows that CDv decreases with the
increase in Re. Comparing Fig. 21a and b, CDp is found to be the
higher when compared with CDv for all the values of Re. The trend
for viscous drag coefficient (CDv) is almost same as pressure drag,
and from Fig. 21b CDv is higher for a square cylinder and decreases
from b = 1 to 0 at a particular Re. From [17], it is observed that CDv
which lies between b = 0.7 and 0.3 and the values for a square
cylinder almost overlap with present data for b = 1.
Thus, it can be concluded from comparisons presented in
Fig. 21a and b that the viscous drag coefficient is the highest for
a square cylinder (b = 1), while the values for pressure drag coeffi-
cient are the lowest for the same b = 1, showing vice versa effect.
Thus the height ratio is the important parameter which effects
the drag coefficient (both viscous as well as pressure). Along the
same line, CD decreases with increase in Re as shown in Fig. 21c
up to Re = 50, however, after Re = 50 the trend line is different
and the total drag coefficient starts to increase with the increase
in Re (only for objects having lesser height ratios). For b = 1 (square
cylinder) after Re = 50, CD slightly decreases with increase in Re,
while for other objects (with smaller height ratios) the overall drag
coefficient starts to show the rise and is in agreement with litera-
ture [18,28]. The zoomed view in time-periodic regime (Fig. 21)
shows that CD is the highest for b = 0 (triangular object) and the
lowest for b = 1 (square object). The value of drag coefficient for
a tapered object [17] lies in between the values of b = 0.7 and
0.3. The change of CD with Re is similar for all objects even having
different height ratios, but after Re = 50 the height of the object on
the rear side for various geometries has phenomenal effect on the
drag coefficient i.e. lesser the height ratio more is the drag
coefficient.
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309 1305

Fig. 23. Local Nusselt number variation around the surface of the objects with height ratio (a) b = 1, (b) b = 0.7, (c) b = 0.3 and (d) b = 0 in time periodic regime for Re = 50, 100
and 150.

Fig. 24. (a) Variation of average Nusselt number with Re, covering both the steady and time-periodic regimes, for different objects along with the literature values of square
cylinder (b = 1) [31,32]. (b) Magnified view of (a) up to Re = 15.

Furthermore, the contribution of time-averaged surface pres- front and back faces (AD and BC respectively) only contribute to
sure and surface vorticity on the mean drag can be visualised from pressure drag. So, vorticity on the front and back faces AD and
Figs. 13 and 14 respectively. For any value of b (except b = 0), the BC does not contribute to the total drag. Also, for b = 1, pressure
1306 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309

Table 9
Percent heat transfer enhancement for b = 1 with respect to the square [12,18,32], tapered [17] and circular [33] objects.

Object Square Tapered Circular

Re [12] [18] [32] [17] [33]

Nu
1 – 3.16 – 6.15 –
5 0.05 0.24 0.17 1.64 23.61
10 0.46 0.16 0.14 1.15 24.43
20 0.36 1.86 0.07 4.62 –
30 0.32 2.24 0.06 7.82 –
50 – 1.28 – 8.51 –
100 – 0.69 – 5.74 –
150 – 0.72 – 2.71 –

Fig. 25. (a) Variation of Strouhal number with b for Re = 50, 100 and 150 along with the results from [10] for Re = 100 and 150. Similarly (b) presents variation of St with Re
and b along with literature values for tapered [17] and square [18] objects.

on faces AB and CD or BC does not contribute to CD, while for other The constants of Eq. (9) are given in Table 8. On comparing the
values of b i.e. 0.7, 0.3 and 0, pressure on faces AB and CD or BC data points between the values generated from simulation and
contributes to CD. On the other hand, vorticity on faces AB and from correlation (Eq. (9)) developed, it is observed that 60% of
CD or BC contributes to CD. the data points fall below 5% deviation and rest 40% are below
An empirical relation has been developed that correlates the 8% deviation.
value of CD with Re (1  Re  30) and for objects (having different
height ratios in the range of 1–0) as follows:
4.4. Nusselt numbers
C D ¼ ð11:68 þ 1:365bÞRe0:605 ðR2 ¼ 0:9969Þ ð8Þ
Figs. 22 and 23 demonstrate the change of local Nusselt number
On analysing the data points and comparing with the correla-
Nu around the faces of objects having height ratio ranging from b =
tion (Eq. (8)) generated it is observed that almost 45% of data
1 to 0 for Re = 1, 5, 20 and 30 (in case of steady flow regime) and Re
points are showing up to 5% of deviation (the deviation between
= 50, 100 and 150 in case of time-periodic flow regime, respec-
the computed and simulated results generated from the correla-
tively. For all the values of b, Nu increases with the increase in Re
tion (Eq. (8))). Almost 30% of the data lie in the range within 6–
in steady as well as time-periodic flow regimes. The variation of
9% deviation and 15% data points are within the range of 10 to
Nu is symmetric for upper and lower halves of the objects. In a
15% deviation and lastly, only 10% data points are showing devia-
time-periodic flow, the irregularity in Nu increases as the flow
tion within 15–20%. The additional parameter introduced in the
approaches the rear corners of the objects because of vortex shed-
correlation (Eq. (8)) i.e. height ratio b results in an increase in com-
ding for b = 1, 0.7 and 0.3. The values of local Nusselt number show
plexity of the relationship and further results in an increase in
a sharp rise on all the corners of the objects and the rise is much
deviation. This is the first attempt of its kind in literature to record
more on the front corners as compared to rear corners, similar
the influence of height ratio and as such no work has been reported
behaviour has been observed in [12,17,18,28]. The values of Nu
where the influence of height ratio is simultaneously correlated
decrease on upper and lower faces of the objects and there exist
with Re and also with drag coefficient in a single equation.
local minimum values of Nu in the middle of the front and rear sur-
The complexity gets much enhanced if the attempt is made to
faces for b = 1, 0.7 and 0.3. The front face has got the maximum val-
generate the correlation for unsteady conditions in view of this
ues of Nu followed by upper and lower surfaces of the objects and
geometric parameter i.e. b.
lastly the rear surface for b = 1, 0.5 and 0.3.
3
C D ¼ a þ bb þ cRe þ db2 þ eRe2 þ f bRe þ gb3 þ hRe þ ibRe2 Fig. 24a shows the change of average Nusselt number Nu for the
2 objects having b = 1, 0.7, 0.3 and 0 with Re. Nu increases with the
þ jb Re ð9Þ
increase in Re as shown in Fig. 24a, which is in agreement with
 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
Fig. 26. Instantaneous vorticity magnitude contours around the objects having height ratios b = 1, 0.7, 0.3 and 0 for Re = 150 in the time-periodic regime.
previous works [12,17,18,25]. Nu for b = 0 (triangular object) is the
highest followed by b = 0.3 and 0.7 and b = 1 (square object)
covering the range of Re. The respective change between the two
consecutive values of Nu for a particular height ratio increases with
the increase in Re and above Re = 40 the change in Nu shows a
significant effect. Thus it is concluded that the height ratio has
the significant impact on the Nu i.e. lesser the height ratio (b = 0)
more is the heat transfer (Fig. 24a). Further the values obtained
from [31,32] are in agreement with the values for the present
b = 1 (square object).
Table 9 presents the comparison in the heat transfer data Nu
(considering the effect of the shape of the objects) under the same
thermal conditions. The shape of the objects drastically affects the
heat transfer. Table 8 presents the comparison of percentage heat
transfer enhancement for a square object (b = 1) with respect to
previous studies [12,18,32] at various values of Re. Furthermore,
the comparison is extended to tapered and circular objects with
studies [17] and [33] respectively. The heat transfer enhancement
for a circular cylinder of study [33] is about 23% (for Re = 5) and
24% (for Re = 10) higher than the value obtained for a square cylin-
der (b = 1). The reason for this effect is the streamline shape of a
circular cylinder.
In addition, an empirical correlation has been established to
obtain the value of Nu for objects having b in the range of 1–0 cov-
ering the range 1  Re  30.
Nu ¼ ð0:739  0:0377bÞRe0:349 ðR2 ¼ 0:9931Þ
1307
It is observed that 90% of data points are showing up to 5% devi-
ation between the simulated data and computed from correlation
(Eq. (10)) and only 10% data points are showing deviation within
5–6%. The relation established has a maximum difference of 6%
with the computed result for Re = 1 and b = 0.3. The relation has
a minimum difference of less than 0.3% for Re = 30 and b = 0.7. Sim-
ilarly, an attempt is made to generate another correlation of the
average Nusselt number with Re and b in an unsteady periodic
regime (50  Re  150).
Nu ¼ ð0:4598  2:136bÞRe0:474 ðR2 ¼ 0:9825Þ ð11Þ
The Nu obtained from Eq. (11) has the highest difference of 5%
for Re = 50 and b = 1 and a minimum deviation of 0.1% between the
present computed Nu and that the value of Nu generated by corre-
lation (Eq. (11)) for Re = 150 and b = 0.3. The relations provided in
Eqs. (10) and (11) involving height ratios b for Nu are appearing for
the first time in literature.
4.5. Strouhal number
The vortex flow regime has been expressed using Strouhal num-
ber defined as St ¼ fB=u1 , where u1 and f are the free stream veloc-
ity and frequency of vortex shedding respectively. Fig. 25a and b
presents the variation of St with height ratio b in a time-periodic
regime for Re = 50, 100 and 150. It is observed from these figures
ð10Þ that St increases with increase in Re, which is in agreement with
previous studies [17,18].
1308 M. Parveez et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 124 (2018) 1285–1309
It is further observed in Fig. 25a that as the height ratio
decreases (from b = 1 to 0.7 for Re = 50, 100 and 150), the St starts
to decrease. This behaviour may be explained on the basis of the
shift in flow separation point, which shifts from rear face of object
for b = 1 (Fig. 7i) to front face for b = 0.7 (Fig. 7j). However, a non-
monotonic behaviour of St is observed in Fig. 25a after further
decrease in height ratio b i.e. from 0.7 to 0, where St is observed
to increase. This increase in St is due to the increase in the rate
of vortex shedding as is revealed in Fig. 26 (which gives instanta-
neous vorticity contours around the objects for Re = 150 and
clearly depicts the variation in frequency with which vortices are
formed). It is observed from Fig. 26 that for b = 0.7 less number
of vortices are seen after the rear end of the objects; however, with
the decrease in b from 0.7 to 0 the number of vortices increase. The
vorticity of the secondary vortex increases for smaller height ratios
as appears on the rear side of the objects. The vortex starts to grow
in cross-stream direction as the lift force changes in transverse
direction. The secondary vortex promotes the interaction between
the separated shear layers, as a result, St increases with the
decrease in height ratio which is also in conformity with [10].
The following correlation has been developed between St, Re
and height ratio b in an unsteady periodic regime (50  Re  150).
St ¼ ð4:463 þ 1:654bÞRe0:2518 ðR2 ¼ 0:9088Þ ð12Þ
On analysing the values of St computed from simulation and
from its comparison with the correlation (Eq. (12)) it was observed
that almost 84% data points of St are having deviation of less than
5% with correlation generated and less than 16% computed data
points of St are having deviation within 5–8% with that of correla-
tion. Thus, the St values obtained from the empirical correlation
(Eq. (12)) have the highest difference of about 8% with the com-
puted values at Re = 150 and b = 0.7 and a minimum deviation of
0.03% at Re = 100 and b = 0.3. The relationship involving St as a
function of Re and b is appearing for the first time in literature.
5. Concluding remarks
Flow and heat transfer around a generic sharp-edged bluff body
with varying height ratio (b = 1–0) have been explored for the
range of Re from 1 to 150 and Pr = 0.71 (air). Grid independence
tests have been carried out for all grids generated and the results
are found in reasonable tolerances. With the decrease in height
ratio, the separation in the flow is delayed. The transition to peri-
odic flow has been explored for all objects/geometries investigated
and it has been concluded that the critical Reynolds number (Re at
which this transition occurs) rises with the increase in height ratio.
The values of wake length for b = 1 are in agreement with [18,28].
The wake length increases with the increase in Re for all values of
b. The wake length is higher for b = 1 followed by b = 0.7 and lastly
b = 0.3 for a particular Re. Wake length correlation has been devel-
oped for b = 1 and 0.7 and the deviations are found within reason-
able range. Stuart-Landau theory has been used to determine the
value of critical Re or the onset of vortex shedding for all the cases
of height ratios. As Re increases flow undergoes supercritical Hopf
bifurcation to periodic state. As b increases from 0 to 0.7 the value
of critical Re increases. The isotherms sharpen progressively with
the decrease in height ratio and the effect of the shape of the
objects on the isothermal patterns is demonstrated. Frictional drag
coefficient is higher for b = 1 and decreases progressively for b = 0
at a particular Re. The overall CD decreases with increases in Re and
its value is higher for b = 0 followed by b = 1 in the time-periodic
regime. An empirical relation has been developed involving CD,
Re and b in both the steady and time-periodic regimes. Introduc-
tion of the additional parameter (height ratio) increases the com-
plexity of this relation. Influence of surface vorticity and surface
pressure on the overall drag coefficient (CD) has been explored.
In addition, an empirical correlation of Nu with b and Re has been
established. Furthermore, it is observed that St increases with the
increase in Re. An empirical relation relating St with b and Re has
been attempted here and appears for the first time in literature.
Conflict of interest
Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable
suggestions and helpful comments, which have enriched the pre-
sent work for the wider readership.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
2018.03.105.
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