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Numerical simulations are performed to examine the effect of size of control rods (d1) and spacing ratio (g) on flow around a square rod with upstream and downstream control rods aligned in-line using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The Reynolds number (Re) is fixed at Re = 160, while the spacing between the main rod and control rods is taken in the range 1 ≤ g ≤ 5 and the size of the control rod is varied between 4 and 20. Seven different types of flow mods are observed in this study at different values of g and d1. Variation in force statistics, like mean drag coefficient (Cdmean), Strouhal number (St), root mean square values of drag (Cdrms) and lift coefficients (Clrms), and percentage reduction in mean drag coefficient is discussed in detail. It was examined that vortex shedding completely suppressed at (g, d1) = (1, 12), (2, 12), and (2, 16) where steady flow mode exists. Moreover, it was found that at large gap spacing, where g = 5, the effect of control rods on the main rod vanishes. Due to this strong vortex shedding produced and as a result, maximum value of Cdmean is found at (g, d1) = (5, 8). The negative values of mean drag force are also observed at some gap spacing and size of control rods are due to the effect of thrust. Furthermore, the maximum percentage reduction in Cdmean is 121%, found at (g, d1) = (2, 20). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-dimensional numerical study was conducted for flow past a square rod in the presence of two control rods. One is placed vertically in the upstream direction and the second one is placed horizontally in the downstream direction of the square rod. The influence of gap spacing was studied by taking g1 = 1–5 and g2 = 0.5–5 (where g1 is the gap between the upstream control rod and the main rod, and g2 is the space between the main rod and the downstream control rod) at Re = 160. The simulation results were obtained in the form of vorticity contour, drag and lift coefficients, Strouhal number, and force statistics. Under the effect of gap spacing, three different flow modes were found and named according to their behavior. It was found that the mean drag coefficient showed decreasing behavior by increasing the value of g2 continually at a fixed value of g1. The largest value of C d m e a n was found at (g1, g2) = (1, 1) and the greatest percentage reduction in C d m e a n was obtained at (g1, g2) = (1, 3), which is 139.72%. The effect of thrust was also noticed for all selected values of g1 and g2. Furthermore, it was noticed that the Strouhal number and the root mean square values of the drag and lift coefficients smaller values than the single rod values, except for the Clrms value of (g1, g2) = (1, 3) and (1, 4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]