The Study on the Flow Generated by an Array of Four Flettner Rotors: Theory and Experiment

Abstract

We present an immersed array of four rotors whose promoted flow can be mathematically modeled with a creeping flow solution from the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. We show that this solution is indeed representative of the two-dimensional experiment and validate such class of solution with experimental data obtained through the Particle Image Velocimetry technique and time-lapsed particles visualizations.