Stirring by multi-cylinder in potential flow

TL;DR

This paper investigates how groups of cylinders moving together in potential flow enhance fluid mixing, revealing nonlinear increases in diffusivity due to interactions, with implications for ocean mixing processes.

Contribution

It extends previous models by analyzing the nonlinear effects of multiple interacting cylinders on fluid diffusivity in potential flow.

Findings

Schools of two cylinders increase diffusivity nonlinearly.

Interaction effects depend on formation and separation.

Multiple cylinders can significantly enhance mixing.

Abstract

We consider the enhanced mixing due to multiple cylinders organised in schools moving synchronously in a potential flow. Here simple interactions between cylinders are modelled by the method of image doublets. This is an extension to Thiffeault \& Childress's work [\emph{Physics Letters A} \textbf{374}, 3487 (2010)] where fluid particle displacements due to non-interacting swimmers were analysed to produce an effective diffusivity that may have a significant impact in ocean mixing. Our results show that schools of two cylinders induce nonlinearly boosted diffusivity compared with the non-interacting case for general configuration parameters, except when they move along a straight line with small separation. We attribute this phenomenon to two different physical mechanisms via which interacting cylinders cooperate to generate long particle drifts depending on their formation. Finally, the effective diffusivity of schools of three or more cylinders in various configurations are also discussed.