Unsteady lift and drag forces acting on the elliptic cylinder

A parametric study has been accomplished to figure out the effects of elliptic cylinder thickness, angle of attack, and Reynolds number oil the unsteady lift and drag forces exerted on the elliptic cylinder. A two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes flow solver is developed based on the SIMPLER method in the body-intrinsic coordinates system to analyze the unsteady viscous flow over elliptic cylinder. Thickness-to-chord ratios of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 elliptic cylinders are simulated at different Reynolds numbers of 400 and 600, and angles of attack of 10 degrees, 20 degrees, and 30 degrees. Through this study, it is observed that the elliptic cylinder thickness, angle of attack, and Reynolds number are very important parameters to decide the lift and drag forces. All these parameters also affect significantly the frequencies of the unsteady force oscillations.