HANSEN,E. B.

: Potential Flow Past a Cylinder 437

ZAMM . Z . Angew. Math. u. Mech. 86 (1985) 9, 437 - 4 4 0

E. B. HANSEN

Potential Flow Past a Cylinder Between Parallel Walls

Vorgestellt wird eine Liisung, die mittels einer Integralgleichungsmethode erhdten wurde. Die auf mehreren Wegen durchge-
jiihrte Uberpriifung der Ergebnisse ergab, daJ die relativen Fehler 10-8 und kleiner sind. Ein Vergleich der Ergebnisse mit
denen aus der angefiihrten Literatur wurde nicht vorgenommen.
A solution obtained by an integral equation method is presented. The results have been tested in various ways and the findings
indicate that the relative errors are 10-8 or less. N o attempt has been made to compare the results with those presented in the
references.
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i

I . Introdiictiori

The probleni of irrotational flow of a n inviscid, incompressible fluid past a circnlar cylinder placed in a channel
with parallel walls has often been used for testing new numerical methods [ 1-81. However, since none of the solu-
tions described in the above references appears t o be able to claim such a degree of accuracy that it can serve as
a standard of comparison for the others, there seems t o be a need for a n accurate solution to the problem. I n this
note we present a solution obtained by an integral equation method. We have tested our results in various ways,
as described in Section 3, and our findings indicate that the relative errors are lo-* or less. It is therefore hoped that
our result will prove iiseful for those who wish t o test other methods by applying them t o the present problem. A s
it is not our purpose t o evaluate the accuracy of the solutions presented in the references no attempt has been made
to compare those results with ours.
For computational reasons, the problem considered here is often approximated by one where the infinite
channel is replaced by a finite one with appropriate boundary conditions prescribed a t the lipstream and down-
stream ends. Tn order t o estimate how much thia changes the velocity field we have also solved snch a problem.

2. The boundary integral equation

Consider a plane potential flow of an inviscid and incompressible fluid around a cylinder in the channel shown in
Figure 1. The cylinder need not t o be circular but we assume that its surface is smooth and symmetric with respect t o
the x-axis. We also assume that the flow velocity approaches a constant vector (q,,0) a t infinity and that the cir-

Fig. 1. A circular cylinder C with radius R is placed symmetrically

in a channel with plane parallel walls and width 2. The angle 0 is
- measured clockwise along the cylinder surface with 0 = 0 on the
negative z-axis.

culation around the cylinder vanishes. If the velocity is measured in units of vuo?and all distances are measured in
units of half the channel width the velocity field is then expressed a s (us, vy) = (yy,-ye) in terms of the stream
function y which is the solution t o Laplace's equation
V2y = 0 9 (1)
which satisfies the boundary conditions
y=o
on the cylinder and
y ( z , 21)= f l (3)
on the channel walls and the condition
+
y(2,Y) = Y O(exp (-44 )) (44
where a is a positive constant for 1x1 -+ m. We shall refer t o the problem given by (1)through (4a)as Problem A .
438 ZAMM . Z. Angew. Math. u. Illech. 66 (1985)9

For computational reasons Problem A is often approximated by one with a finite domain of definition. There-
fore, we shall also consider Problem B, which is given by (l),( 2 ) ,and (3), and the conditions
Y(+XO, Y) = Y (4b)
where xo is a positive constant, which is large enough so that neither of the planes x = +xo intersects with the
cylinder.
We wish to set up integral equation formulations of the Problems A and B such that the only unknown is the
velocity on the cylinder surface. Then we need fundamental solutions which vanish on the channel walls. The func-
tion
GA(z (E2 + 1 + 2E cos ($n(y + y’)))/(E2+ 1 - 2E cos ($n‘(c.(y- y’)))
- x’,y, y‘) = (4n)-l
In (5a)
where E = exp (4nfx - 5‘)) has this property. It is found by conformal mapping from Green’s function for Dirich-
let’s problem in a half space. Since GA vanishes exponentially as (x- z’I -+ m, we shall use i t in Problem A. I n
Problem B the fundamental solution should vanish on x = fx,, also. By the method of images we construct the
function
tco
O R ( % - Z’,y, y’) = 2
n=-m
( - 1 y GA(2 + (-1)%+12’ + 2nzo,y, y’) (5b)
which has the required property.
We now use Green’s second identity with the functions y - y and GAor GB inserted. The domain of integra-
tion, Q, is a doubly connected region bounded on the inside by the trace,,C, of the cylinder surface in the xy-plane.
The exterior boundary, CE, consists of sections of straight lines y = ,1 and x = +xl, where x1 --t co in Problem A
and x1 = xo in Problem B. If (x’,y’) E 9,we thereby find that

?/’(XI,y’) = y’ +
CUET
[[(a - N Y ) G - (y -

where N y is the y-component of the outward unit normal, #, t o the boundary, and a/aN denotes differentiation in
the direction of 3. I n (6), G stands for GA and GB in Problems A and B respectively. Because of the properties of y
and G the integral along CE vanishes in both problems. If (x‘,y’) E Q, G as well y are harmonic inside C, and there-
fore the integral along C of -NYG +
y aG/aN is also zero. Finally, since ?’ = 0 on C, (6) reduces t o

C
By taking the derivative in the direction of the arbitrary unit vector #’ on both sides of (7), we obtain the formula

If ay/aN is known on C, (v2,vy) = (ay/ay’, -ay’/az’) can be computed a t a n arbitrary point (x’,y’) in Q from (8).
If, in (8), we let be the unit normal vector, %(a’), a t a point on C and let (x’,y’) approach the same point, we
obtain the integral equation
1
~
Y
~ = -NI(s‘)
( q c ‘ ) + - x‘, y, y’) ds , (9)
C
where x = x(s),y = y(s), x’ = ~ ( s ’ ) , 9’ = y(s’), and u(s) = -ay/aN is the flow velocity in the clockwise direction
on C. Equation (9) with G = GAor G = GB is our integral equation formulation of Problems A and B respectively

3. Solution and Results

The integral equation (9) was solved numerically for a circular cylinder by a collocation method. The integral was
approximated by means of the trapezoidal rule with the nodes coinciding with the collocation points. When solving
the equation we took the symmetry of v about the coordinate axes into account and required the equation t o be
+
satisfied a t 8 = n and at, say, M - 1 points uniformly distributed in the interval 0 8 < <+
n. The resulting
system of M linear, algebraic equations with M unknowns was solved by Gauss elimination using the Harwell
subroutine MA21AD. The computations were carried out in double precision (16 digits) on the IBM 3081-computer
a t the NEUCC computing centre in Lyngby. Some of the results are presented in Tables 1 through 4.
Most of the results in the tables refer t o Problem A defined in (1) through (4a). The other results are for Pro-
blem B defined in (l),( 2 ) , (3), and (4b) with xo = 2. For Problem A as well as for Problem B the equation was
solved with the radius, R, of the cylinder equal t o 0.1,0.25, 0.5, and 0.75. For all four radii the computations were
carried out with M = 16, 32, and 64. At those points where u was found for two or all of the three .M-values the
U-values never differed by more than 2 . 10-14. We interpret these deviations as a measure of the accuracy of our
results. The values for Problem A at the points 8 = 22.5”, 45”, 67.5”, and 90”are shown in Table 1. I n the table,
the number of decimals has been reduced t o 8. which seems sufficient for comparison with results from other known
 HANSEN,
E. B. : Potential Flow Past a Cylinder 439

Table 1. The velocity at points on the surface of the circular cylinder shown in Figure 1.
The results in the first four lines are for Problem A ( an infinite channel); those in the
bottom line are for Problem B (a finite channel of length 4).
~~

0 = 22.5 e = 450 0 = 67.5" e = 900

A: R = 0.10 0.77163864 1.42588336 1.86311350 2.01666792
R = 0.25 0.80382906 1.48843037 1.94913674 2.11180801
R = 0.50 0.91003627 1.731297 19 2.34826360 2.58949469
R = 0.75 1.06681672 2.23282292 3.59801292 4.43459976
B: R = 0.50 0.91011504 1.73136327 2.34828974 2.58950643

Table 2. The velocity v, at x = 0 in the interval R y 1. The four columns to the left are
for Problem A. The right column is for Problem B.
Y R = 0.10 . R = 0.25 R = 0.50 R = 0.75 R = 0.50
(A) (A) (A) (A) (B)
1.ooo 1.024878 64 1.162582 73 1.780 899 69 3.80225141 1.780891 62
0.875 1.02586299 1.16901714 1.81233241 3.94250707 1.81232614
0.750 1.02914714 1.19048554 1.91751989 4.43459976 1.917518 69
0.625 1.03598604 1.23519566 2.13816992 - 2.13817581
0.500 1.04975733 1.32524556 2.58949469 - 2.589 50643
0.375 1.08060271 1.52703222 - - -
0.25 1.16988296 2.11180801 -
0.10 2.016667 92

Table 3. The velocity at x = -2 and ordinates y as shown in Problems A and B

for R = 0.5. By definition, w, = 1 on x = -2 in Problem B.
Problem y = 0.2 y = 0.5 y = 0.8
A TJ, 0.99534831 1.00002080 1.00463883
A vy 0.003 394 83 0.005 741 82 0.003 355 26
B wy 0.00678984 0.01148395 0.00671069

Table 4. The flux through one gap between the cylinder and the wall at x = 0 in Problem A
computed by numerical integration of v, using a 5- and a 7-point Lobatto-formula.The exact
value of the flux is 1.
Radius, R 0.1 0.25 0.50 0.75
5 points 1.00708023 1.000477 76 1.00000532 1.00000022
7 points 1.00065545 1.000007 98 1 .OOOOOO 01 1.OOO 118 16

methods. As an example of the results for Problem B those for R = 0.5 are also shown in Table 1. It is seen that
the relative change from the corresponding values for Problem A is or less. This result may be used as a guide
when choosing the channel length if the infinite channel is replaced by a finite one in similar problems.
After the surface velocity was found, formula (8) was used to compute v n a t points on x = 0 with R y51 <
and v, and vuyon x = -1 and x = -2 for 0 y 5 1. Again, the computations were carried out for Problem A as
well as for Problem B with R = 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 and with M = 16, 32, and 64. Here too, the results for the
velocity on x = -1 and x = -2 corresponding t o M = 16, 32, and 64 differed by absolute amounts of the order
or less. The corresponding differences between the v,-values on x = 0 were also small at points not very close
t o the cylinder, but they increased dramatically in the immediate neighbourhood of C. Thus, for R = 0.75 and
y = 0.775 the relative difference between the results for M = 32 and M = 64 was as large as 1.5%. It is not diffi-
cult t o explain these larger errors. If the field point, P,is a t a short distance, t, from C, the kernel in (8) contains
+
a term proportional to t / ( t z s2), where s is the arclength measured from the point on C which is closest t o P. When
integrated over a n interval [ - A , A ] this term gives a finite contribution t o the integral even for A + 0 , if t 0. >
It is therefore not surprising that this term is difficult t o integrate numerically, when t is comparable with the
distance between the nodes on C. On the other hand, since this term reduces t o a removable discontinuity when
t = 0, it causes no trouble in the integral equation itself. Also, as was just mentioned, the difficulties become serious
only when the field point is very close t o C . Therefore, with one exception, all the values for v, on x = 0 which
are presented in Table 2, agree up t o the first 8 decimals or more for M = 32 and 64. The exception is v, at y = 0.875
for R = 0.75; here the value given is the one with M = 64, while the one for M = 32 is 1.1 . lod8larger. I n this
table, too, values for R = 0.5 are shown for both problems so that the influence of the truncation of the channel can
be estimated.
For R = 0.5 Table 3 shows v, and vy for Problem A and vy for Problem B a t x = -2. From the table we see
the size of the difference between the value v, = 1, which is prescribed in Problem B, and the v,-values which occur
in the infinite channel. One may note that vy in Problem B is almost exactly twice the one in Problem A. This can
be understood by noting that the influence of the cylinder on the flow field can be represented by a system of multi-
poles inside C . Therefore, in order that the boundary conditions on x = 5 2 in Problem B are satisfied, similar
systems of multipoles (with the same or opposite signs) must be distributed periodically in the channel. These systems
will approximately double the derivative aylax a t x = -2 from its value in Problem A.
440 ZAMM . Z. Angew. Math. u. Mech. 66 (1985) 9

Since the flux through every cross-section of the channel must be equal t o 3, a simple check of the results is
t o evaluate the flux by numerical integration of v, over a cross-section. It should be remembered, however, that a
flux value found in this way does not only reflect the accuracy of the values found for v, but also that of the qua-
drature formula. I n Table 4 the flux through one of the gaps between the cylinder and the wall is shown for Pro-
blem Afor the same four radii as before. The fluxes were computed by means of 5 and 7-point Lobatto-quadrature
formulas [9]. We used Lobatto formulas in order t o utilize the fact that our method leads t o very correct values
at, the end points (y = R and y = 1) of the interval of integration.

Acknowledgements

The work described in this note was initiated while the author was a guest a t the Department of Mathematics,
Stanford University. The author wishes t o express his sincere gratitude t o Julie Damms Studiefond for financial
support and t o Professor JOSEPHB. KELLER for his hospitality during the stay. The author is also grateful t o Pro-
fessor THUGER BTTSK, Numerical Institute, Technical University of Denmark, for discussions on numerical qiiadra-
tiirc.

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Receivrd Jnly 16, 1984

Add~1.es.r:Professor. Dr. ERIK R. HANSEN,

TAahoratoryof Applied Mathematical Physiczs, Technical Univrrsity of Denmark. DK-2800
Lyngby. Drnmark.