Simulating Laminar Flow Around a Circular Cylinder using Computational Fluid Dynamics

This paper provides a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of laminar flow over a circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of 100. The incompressible Navier Stokes equations are numerically solved with a finite difference method applied in Python in Google Colab. The simulation calculates velocity fields, pressure distributions, and drag forces and obtains a drag coefficient of Cd =1.4, in agreement with experimental measurements. Six visualizations—velocity magnitude, streamlines, pressure, vorticity, velocity profile, and drag convergence illustrate the behavior of flow. Utilizing open-source software and cloud computing, this research shows a convenient method of CFD. The findings help elucidate fluid-structure interactions and find use in bio-inspired microfluidic, aerodynamic, and medical device designs.