Proceedings of the 11th Interantional and 51st National Conference on Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power (FMFP 2024)

December 21-23, 2024, AMU Aligarh, India.

FMFP2024–XX–YYY

Ground Effect on Circular Cylinder in Potential flow

Dhaval T. Solanki, Dharmendra S Sharma

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda,
Vadodara-390002, Gujarat, India.

ABSTRACT Pandolfi and Larocca [13], Salas [14], Solanki and Sharma [15],
etc.

The ground effect on circular cylinder in potential flow is The flow around circular cylinder can be significantly affected
investigated by using complex variable approach. The by the vicinity of other cylinders of same or different shape and
geometry of circle above the ground is mapped to the annulus the hydrodynamic interaction can be observed. Considering
formed between two concentric circles using bilinear mapping. potential flow models, the hydrodynamic interactions between
The mathematical method to obtained flow parameters around the cylinders are investigated by constructing complex potential
the cylinder above the ground is presented. The velocity and functions and conformal mappings for doubly connected
pressure around the cylinder and on the ground are investigated domains. Greenhill [16], Carpenter [17], Kawaguti [18], Wang
for various cylinder to ground distances (𝐻 ⁄𝑅 ). The ground [19], DeLillo [20] have constructed complex potential functions
effect on the cylinder is found significant for 𝐻 ⁄𝑅 < 10, and in the form of series for potential flow over two or more circular
weakens as the cylinder moves away from the ground. At the cylinders. Burton et al. [21] derived the complex potential
distance 𝐻 ⁄𝑅 ≫ 10, the ground effect vanishes and cylinder function for two circular discs in terms of first Jacobi theta
behaves as an individual single cylinder in uniform flow. The function. The complex potential functions are also developed
comparison between the some of the present results and, the using bipolar co-ordinates for the flow around two circular
results from literature and those extracted from ANSYS for the cylinders (e.g. Alassar and EI-Gebeily [22], Chen et al. [23],
same geometrical and flow conditions is shown. Huang and Yong [24], etc.). The bilinear mapping (Lu, et al.
[25]) is used by Tchieu et al. [26] and, Bampalas and Graham
Keywords: Potential flow, Hypotrochoidal mapping, Square [27] to investigate the interaction between two circular
cylinder, Corner radius, Complex potential. cylinders in inviscid flow. The Mobius transformation is used
by Crowdy [28] for to investigate flow around two and three
circular cylinders in tandem and side by side configurations.
1. INTRODUCTION
The flow around cylindrical structures close to the For infinite diameter of one of the circular cylinders, the
ground/wall is a problem of considerable theoretical interest problem of flow around two-circular cylinders is transformed
and practical relevance for many applications. For example, in to the flow around cylinder near a wall/ground. The
offshore structures the pipe lines are often installed close to the hydrodynamic interaction between the circular cylinder and
seabed [1, 2], the proximity of seabed alters the flow patterns plane wall is investigated by Petrov and Maklakov [29] using
and hydrodynamic loads are experiences by pipelines which potential flow theory. They have constructed the complex
may cause their failures. The wings of aeroplanes during potential function using Jacobi Theta-functions and the
landing and take-off experiences ground effect [3-6], the circulation around the circular cylinder is determine using
ground effect alters the lift to drag ratio significantly. For Gol’dshtik’s principle. Baddoo and Ayton [30], and Baddoo et
performance improvement of flights and efficient design of al. [31] have investigated the ground effect on inclined, flat and
cylindrical pipelines/structures close to the wall, it is essential curved plates in potential flow using complex potential function
to understand the hydrodynamic interaction between the for doubly connected annulus domain.
cylindrical bodies and ground/wall.
Seeing the cross-section of the literature, it is evident that
Many research papers are devoted to the flow around single very little attention is given to the problem of the ground effect
circular cylinder [7-9]. For very large Reynolds number, the on the cylinder in potential flow problems. Very few research
fluid flow around circular cylinder can be modelled using articles have been reported on the effect of various geometrical
potential flow theory. The analytical solutions of fluid flow and flow parameters on the hydrodynamic interaction between
around single circular cylinder using potential flow model are cylinder and ground using the complex variable method.
given by Hafez and Wahba [10], Rodriguez [11], Botta [12],

1
 In present research article, the ground effect on cylinder in Here, the complex potential function 𝑤𝑈 (𝜁) for uniform
potential flow is investigated using complex variable method. potential flow is derived using the complex potential function
The complex potential function in the form of Laurent series 𝑤𝑣 (𝜁, 𝛾) for a point vortex located at 𝜁 = 𝛾 in doubly connected
expansion for doubly connected annulus domain is used along annulus domain (𝑠 ≤ |𝜁| ≤ 1) in terms of Laurent’s series as
with bilinear mapping. The formulas for velocity and pressure- shown below,
co-efficient are derived for ground effect on circular cylinder.
The effect of distance between the cylinder and ground on the 𝑖 |𝛾|𝑃(𝜁𝛾 −1 , 𝑠) (3)
flow parameters is studied. Some of the velocity and pressure 𝑤𝑣 (𝜁, 𝛾) = − 𝑙𝑜𝑔 ( ),
2𝜋 𝑃(𝜁𝛾̅ , 𝑠)
results obtained using present method are compared with the
results from literature and those obtained from ANSYS Fluent. where, the 𝑃(𝜁, 𝑠) can be presented as Laurent series expansion
as shown below,
2. MATHEMATICAL METHOD
∞
∏∞ 2𝑛 2
𝑛=1(1 + 𝑠 )
The two-dimensional, inviscid, and incompressible fluid 𝑃(𝜁, 𝑠) = ( ∞ 𝑛(𝑛−1) ) ∑ (−1)𝑛 𝑠 𝑛(𝑛−1) (𝜁)𝑛 . (4)
flow around the circular close to ground/wall is considered in ∑𝑛=0 𝑠
𝑛=−∞
physical 𝑧-plane. The geometry in physical 𝑧-plane is shown in
Figure 1. The complex potential function for a dipole at 𝜁 = 𝛾 in the
annulus is obtained by taking differentiation of complex
potential function 𝑤𝑣 (𝜁, 𝛾) with respect to 𝛾 as shown below,

𝜕𝑤𝑣 𝜕𝑤𝑣
𝑤𝑈 (𝜁, 𝛾) = 2𝜋𝑈𝑖𝒞 (𝑒 −𝑖𝛼 − 𝑒 𝑖𝛼 ), (5)
𝜕𝛾 𝜕𝛾̅

where, ‘𝛼’ is an angle of attack and 𝒞 = 2𝐴 is a real constant

obtained by finding residue of bilinear mapping (Equation (1))
at the simple pole 𝜁 = 1.

By substituting 𝑤𝑣 from Equation (3) into Equation (5) yields,

Figure 1: Mapping of circular cylinder close to ground 2𝐴𝑈 −𝑖𝛼 𝜁 𝛿 −1 𝑃𝜁 (𝜁𝛾 −1 , 𝑠)

in physical 𝒛-plane form annulus in 𝜻-plane. 𝑤𝑈 (𝜁 , 𝛿) = (𝑒 (6)
𝛾 𝑃(𝜁𝛿 −1 , 𝑠)
The circular cylinder of radius R is located at non- 𝜁𝛿𝑃𝜁 (𝜁𝛾, 𝑠)
− 𝑒 𝑖𝛼 ),
dimensional distance 𝐻 ⁄𝑅 from ground/wall in physical 𝑧- 𝑃(𝜁𝛾, 𝑠)
plane (refer Figure 1). The area around circular cylinder above
the ground in 𝑧-plane is mapped from annular area formed To obtain the uniform potential flow around circular cylinder
between unit radius circle and circle of radius ‘𝑠’ using bilinear near a ground in 𝑍-plane, the dipole in the anulus (𝜁-plane) must
mapping as given below, be placed at the location of pole. By evaluating Equation (6) at
pole and substituting 𝛾 = 1, the complex potential function
𝜁+1 takes following form,
𝑍=𝐴 , (1)
𝜁−1
𝑃′(𝜁, 𝑠)
where, constant 𝐴 = 𝑖(𝑠 2 − 1)⁄2𝑠 . The unit radius circle 𝑤𝑈 (𝜁) = 4𝑖𝐴𝑈𝜁 𝑠𝑖𝑛 (𝛼). (7)
𝑃(𝜁, 𝑠)
and the circle of radius 𝑠 in 𝜁-plane are mapped to the flat
ground at 𝑋-axis and the circle of radius 𝑅 at the distance 𝐻/𝑅 where, 𝑃′(𝜁, 𝑠) is the differentiation of Laurent series expansion
from the ground in physical 𝑍-plane. (Equation (4)) with respect 𝜁 as shown below,

2.1 Complex potential function ∞

∏∞ 2𝑛 2
𝑛=1(1 + 𝑠 )
To obtain the potential flow around circular cylinder close 𝑃′(𝜁, 𝑠) = ( ∞ 𝑛(𝑛−1)
) ∑ (−1)𝑛 𝑠 𝑛(𝑛−1) 𝑛𝜁 𝑛−1 . (8)
∑𝑛=0 𝑠
to a ground/wall, the complex potential function is the annulus 𝑛=−∞

domain (𝜁-plane) is expressed as 𝑊(𝜁). The complex potential

The circulation around the cylinder in 𝑍-plane can be added
function 𝑊(𝜁) here represents as a superposition of complex
by placing a vortex of circulation Γ at the center of circles in 𝜁-
potentials for two scenarios of interest, uniform flow and
plane. The complex potential function for such vortex at 𝜁 = 0
circulation of flow around the cylinder as shown below,
is written as,
𝑊(𝜁) = 𝑤𝑈 (𝜁) + 𝑤Γ (𝜁), (2) 𝑖Γ
𝑤Γ (𝜁) = − 𝑙𝑜𝑔(𝜁). (9)
where, 𝑤𝑈 (𝜁) is the complex potential for doublet flow in 2𝜋
an annulus corresponds to the uniform potential flow of speed
𝑈 around circular cylinder close to a ground in 𝑍-plane.

2
The velocity around cylinders
The velocity around the cylinder above the ground in physical
𝑍-plane is obtained by taking differentiation of the complex
potential function 𝑊(𝜁, 𝛾) as shown below,

𝑑𝑊 𝑑𝑤𝑈 𝑑𝜁 𝑑𝑤Γ 𝑑𝜁
𝑉= =( )+( ), (10)
𝑑𝑍 𝑑𝜁 𝑑𝑍 𝑑𝜁 𝑑𝑍

After substitution of complex potential 𝑤𝑈 (Equation (7)) and

Figure 2: Streamline of flow around cylinder located at
𝑤Γ (Equation (9)), and differentiated with respect to 𝜁, we
distance H/R=0.2 above ground, (a) without circulation
obtained following relation for velocity,
(b) with circulation 𝚪 = −𝟐. 𝟐𝟕.
𝜁𝑃′2 (𝜁, 𝑠)
𝑉 = (𝜁 − 1)2 [2 sin(𝛼) 𝑈𝑖 ( The comparison of velocity contours around the
𝑃2 (𝜁, 𝑠) cylinder above the ground at distance H/R = 1, obtained using
𝜁𝑃′′ (𝜁, 𝑠) + 𝑃′ (𝜁, 𝑠) 𝑖Γ present method and commercial CFD software package
− )+ ] . (11)
𝑃(𝜁, 𝑠) 4𝜋𝜁𝐴 ANSYS are shown in Figure 3. The maximum velocity
Vmax /U = 2.240 is obtained using present method, which is
In above equations, the terms 𝑃′and 𝑃′′ represents first order found in close confirmation to the results Vmax /U = 2.235
and second order differentiation of 𝑃-function (Equation (4)) obtained using ANSYS. Figure 4 shows the comparison of
with respect to 𝜁, respectively. velocity profile on the surface of circular cylinder above ground
at the distance H⁄R = 3, obtained using present method and
2.4 Pressure around the cylinders ANSYS. The velocity profiles are found identical.
The pressure co-efficient around circular cylinder above a Table 1 shows the comparison of maximum velocities
ground is obtained using Bernoulli’s equation as shown below, on the ground for non-dimensional distances H⁄R = 0.2, 1 and
2.5 obtained using present method with the results from Petrov
𝑉2
𝐶𝑝 = 1 − . (12) and Maklakov [29]. The results of present method are found in
𝑈2 close agreement with those from literature for the same values
of circulation (Γ) and distance (𝐻/𝑅).
After substitution of 𝑉 from Equation (11) into Equation (12),
the pressure co-efficient 𝐶𝑝 is written as,
Table 1: Maximum velocities on the ground interacting
1 𝜁𝑃 ′2 (𝜁, 𝑠) with circular cylinder at different distances (𝑯/𝑹) with
𝐶𝑝 = 1 − 2 (𝜁 − 1)4 [2 sin(𝛼) 𝑈𝑖 ( 2
𝑈 𝑃 (𝜁, 𝑠) the circulation 𝚪 in potential flow.
′′ ′ 2
𝜁𝑃 (𝜁, 𝑠) + 𝑃 (𝜁, 𝑠) 𝑖Γ
− )+ ] . (13)
𝑃(𝜁, 𝑠) 4𝜋𝜁𝐴 𝐇/𝐑 𝚪 Present Method Petrov and
Maklakov [29]
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 0.2 -2.2717 2.1235 2.1259
The ground effect on circular cylinder in potential flow 1 -0.4191 1.4670 1.4751
with and without circulation is investigated by programming 2.5 -0.0748 1.1599 1.1679
above mathematical relations in MATLAB. The free stream
velocity (𝑈), flow angle (𝛼), circulation (Γ) around the cylinder, The effect of non-dimensional distance between the
the distance of circular cylinder above the ground (𝐻), and the ground and cylinder on the velocity and pressure profile is
radius of cylinder (𝑅) are the independent inputs to the program shown in Figure 5. The maximum velocities
and velocity 𝑉 and pressure co-efficient 𝐶𝑝 are the dependent Vmax ⁄U = 2.5939, 2.24, 2.1308, 2.0825, 2.0568 and 2.0, and
outputs here. minimum pressure co-efficients Cpmin =
−5.7281, −4.0177, −3.5403, −3.3366, −3.2303 and −3 are
The streamlines of potential flow around circular cylinder found on the surface of cylinder for the non-dimensional
without circulation (Γ = 0) and with circulation (Γ = −2.27) distance H⁄R = 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 100, respectively. The
located above the ground at non-dimensional distance 𝐻/𝑅 = magnitude of velocities and pressure co-efficients are found to
0.2 is shown in Figure 2. The streamlines of flow around the be decreases with increase of distance (H/R) between the
cylinder and the location of stagnation points are observed to be cylinder and ground. At H⁄R ≫ 10, the cylinder behaves as an
significantly affected by the presence of ground and circulation isolated cylinder in potential flow, and the velocity and pressure
(Γ). co-efficient attains the extremum values Vmax ⁄U = 2.0 and
Cpmin = −3.0. The velocities attain the maximum values
Vmax ⁄U = 2.0811, 1.5440, 1.3358, 1.2294, 1.1670, 1.1271
and 1.0002 on the ground at location x = 0.

3
 Figure 7 and 8 shows the variation of maximum velocities
and minimum pressure co-efficients on the surface of cylinder
and ground with respect to the non-dimensional distance (H/R).
It is observed that the velocity on the surface of cylinder
decreases and pressure co-efficient increases with increase of
distance (H/R), and attains the values (Vmax ⁄U = 2.0, Cpmin =
−3.0) that corresponds to the single isolated cylinder in uniform
potential flow.

Similarly, the extremum values of flow parameters on the

ground also converges to that of uniform potential flow on flat
ground. It is observed that the ground effect on the cylinder
weakens as the cylinder moves away from cylinder and, at far
distance away ground effect vanishes and cylinder behaves as a
single isolated body in flow.

Figure 5: Velocity profile (left) and pressure co-efficient

profile (right) on the surface of circular cylinder above
ground at different distance (H/R).

Figure 6: Velocity distribution on the ground at

different distance (H/R).

Figure 3: Velocity contours around circular cylinder

above the ground at distance H/R=1, obtained using (a)
present method and (b) ANSYS.

Figure 7: Maximum velocity (𝑽𝒎𝒂𝒙 /𝑼) on the surface

of circular cylinder and ground for non-dimensional
distance 𝟎. 𝟏 ≤ 𝑯/𝑹 ≤ 𝟏𝟓.
Figure 4: Comparison of velocity profile on the surface of
circular cylinder above the ground at distance H/R=3, 4
obtained using present method and ANSYS.
 𝜁 and 𝑍 Complex planes
𝑠 Radius of smaller circular cylinder in annulus
𝐻 Distance of cylinder from the ground
𝑥, 𝑦 Real and imaginary axis in 𝑍-plane
𝛼 Angle of attack

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