Polymer effects on Karman vortex: Molecular dynamics study

We investigated the Karman vortex behind a circular cylinder in a polymer solution by a molecular dynamics simulation. The vortex characteristics are distinctly different for short and long polymers. The solution with the long polymer exhibits a reduction in the vortex shedding frequency and broadening of the lift coefficient spectrum. On the other hand, the characteristics of the short-polymer solution are almost the same as those of the Newtonian fluid. These facts are consistent with the experiments. Because the distributions of the gyration radius and the orientational order of the long-polymer solution are highly inhomogeneous in the flow field, we conclude that the extensional property of the polymer plays an important role in changing the flow characteristics. Published by AIP Publishing.