Three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulation of the Effect of Spacing on the Flow Field Dynamic Characteristics of Three Tandem Cylinders at Subcritical Reynolds Numbers

Xi  Shia; Yuanshun  Huoa; Hui  Chenb; Hu  Taoa; Shilong  Bua

doi:10.6180/jase.202607_30.037

Three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulation of the Effect of Spacing on the Flow Field Dynamic Characteristics of Three Tandem Cylinders at Subcritical Reynolds Numbers

Xi Shia¹This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Yuanshun Huoa¹, Hui Chenb², Hu Taoa¹, and Shilong Bua¹

¹College of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China

²State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China

Received: November 17, 2025
Accepted: December 28, 2025
Publication Date: January 19, 2026

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202607_30.037

To investigate the flow field characteristics and wake vortex shedding behind cylinders during fluid flow. This study focuses on three tandem cylinders. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is employed to analyze the effects of varying cylinder spacing ratios ( L/D = 2 ∼ 7 ) on the lift and drag coefficients ( Cl_rms, Cd_axg ), the time-averaged pressure coefficient ( Cp) on the cylinder surfaces, and the wake vortex shedding under subcritical Reynolds numbers ( Re = 3900,2×104,4×104 . The results show that Cl_rms increases first and then decreases with the increase of L/D, reaching the peak at L/D = 3 Re = 4×10⁴,Clrms2 = 0.43 . When Re = 2×10⁴ ∼ 4×10⁴, Cd_avg1 > Cd_avg2 > Cd_avg3, and Cd_avg1 remains stable at around 0.5 , while Cdavg2 and Cdavg3 show a slight decreasing trend. The Cp value of the cylinder is symmetrically distributed along the f low direction, with strong negative pressure areas on both sides of the cylinder. The Cp behind the cylinder tends to-0.5. However, when Re = 3900 ∼ 4×10⁴, the Cp of the downstream 2# and 3# cylinders at L/D = 3 is greater than 0 , and the negative pressure area disappears. St increases with the increase of L/D. When L/D =3∼4,theincrease of St is relatively large ( 27.2% ). When L/D = 7, the shedding of the tail vortex of the cylinder approaches the flow around a single cylinder (St ≈ 0.2).

Keywords: Three-cylinder in tandem; Subcritical Reynolds number; Spacing ratio; Lift and drag coefficients; Flow field characteristics

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