Experimental and Numerical Study of the Flow Around a Semi-Submerged Rectangular Cylinder

The present work is motivated by phenomena occurring in the flow field around structures partly submerged in water. A three dimensional unsteady flow around a rectangular cylinder is studied for four different submergence ratios by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools with LES turbulence model. Simulation results are compared to particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements at Reynolds number Re = 12100 and Froude number Fr = 0.26. Focus in our investigation is on the characterization of the behaviour of vortex structures generated by separated flow. Another target in the study is to obtain better knowledge of the hydrodynamic forces acting on a semi-submerged structure. Computed force coefficients are compared with experimental measurements.