Abstract
Two-dimensional flow over a pair of circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangements at low Reynolds numbers has been numerically investigated in this study. Numerical simulations are performed, using the immersed boundary method, in the ranges of $40{\leq}Re{\leq}160$ and $g^{\ast}<5$, where Re and $g^{\ast}$ are, respectively, the Reynolds number and the spacing between the two cylinder surfaces divided by the cylinder diameter. Results show that total six kinds of wake patterns are observed over the ranges: antiphase-synchronized, inphase-synchronized, flip-flopping, single bluff-body, deflected, and steady wake patterns. It is found that the characteristics of the flow significantly depends both on the Reynolds number and gap spacing, with the latter much stronger than the former. Instantaneous flow fields, time traces, flow statistics and so on are presented to identify the wake patterns and then to understand the underlying mechanism. It is remarkable that, for the deflected wake pattern, the gap flow is deflected invariably to the cylinder of higher drag coefficient and the deflection way does not change at all. Moreover, the bifurcation phenomena where either of two wake patterns can occur are found at certain flow conditions.