The viscous secondary flow ahead of an infinite cylinder in a uniform parallel shear flow

A simple method is presented in this paper for calculating the secondary velocities, andthe lateral displacement of total pressure surfaces (i.e. the ‘displacement effect’) in the plane of symmetry ahead of an infinitely long cylinder situated normal to a steady, incompressible, slightly viscous shear flow; the cylinder is also perpendicular to the vorticity, which is assumed uniform but small. The method is based on lateral gradients of pressure, these being calculated from the primary flow alone. Profiles of the secondary velocities are obtained at several Reynolds numbers ahead of two specific cylindrical shapes: a circular cylinder, and a flat plate normal to the flow. The displacement effect is derived and, rathe surprisingly, is found to be virtually independent of the Reynolds number.