Regular Article

Three-dimensional study of parallel shear flow around an obstacle in water channel and air tunnel

¹ Research Unit of Metrology and Energy Systems, ENIM, University of Monastir, 5019 Kairouan Street, Monastir, Tunisia
² Research Unit of Ionized Backgrounds and Reagents Studies, University of Monastir, 5019 Kairouan Street, Monastir, Tunisia
³ Thermal Centre of Lyon, National Institute of Applied Science of Lyon, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

^* e-mail: toumimohamed80@yahoo.fr

Received: 19 May 2016
Accepted: 27 March 2017

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to show the effect of some physical parameters on a parallel shear flow. The variation of the velocity inlet and the influence of an obstacle placed at the bottom of a channel were analyzed. The governing equations based on K–ε model in a line source downstream around a three-dimensional obstacle are determined by the finite volume method with SIMPLEC algorithm. The obtained results have allowed to establish the dynamic characteristics of this kind of flow. Horizontal and vertical velocity fields, Reynolds shear stress field, turbulence intensity and scalar concentration in the water channel and a wind tunnel were exposed. These results permit us to localize the maximum and minimum zones of turbulence, which help us to exploit those fields for different purposes such as energy extraction and port infrastructure.