The flow behind rings: bluff body wakes without end effects

1995 ◽  
Vol 288 ◽  
pp. 265-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Leweke ◽  
M. Provansal

Recent studies have demonstrated the strong influence of end effects on low-Reynoldsnumber bluff body wakes, and a number of questions remain concerning the intrinsic nature of three-dimensional phenomena in two-dimensional configurations. Some of them are answered by the present study which investigates the wake of bluff rings (i.e. bodies without ends) both experimentally and by application of the phenomenological Ginzburg–Landau model. The model turns out to be very accurate in describing qualitative and quantitative observations in a large Reynolds number interval. The experimental study of the periodic vortex shedding regime shows the existence of discrete shedding modes, in which the wake takes the form of parallel vortex rings or ‘oblique’ helical vortices, depending on initial conditions. The Strouhal number is found to decrease with growing body curvature, and a global expression for the Strouhal–Reynolds number relation, including curvature and shedding angle, is proposed, which is consistent with previous straight cylinder results. A secondary instability of the helical modes at low Reynolds numbers is discovered, and a detailed comparison with the Ginzburg–Landau model identifies it as the Eckhaus modulational instability of the spanwise structure of the near-wake formation region. It is independent of curvature and its clear observation in straight cylinder wakes is inhibited by end effects.The dynamical model is extended to higher Reynolds numbers by introducing variable parameters. In this way the instability of periodic vortex shedding which marks the beginning of the transition range is characterized as the Benjamin–Feir instability of the coupled oscillation of the near wake. It is independent of the shear layer transition to turbulence, which is known to occur at higher Reynolds numbers. The unusual shape of the Strouhal curve in this flow regime, including the discontinuity at the transition point, is qualitatively reproduced by the Ginzburg–Landau model. End effects in finite cylinder wakes are found to cause important changes in the transition behaviour also: they create a second Strouhal discontinuity, which is not observed in the present ring wake experiments.

1993 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 675-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Green ◽  
J. H. Gerrard

The technique of the particle streak method has been applied to the study of bluff-body wakes at low Reynolds number. Vorticity and shear stress were measured to an accuracy of 15–20%. The vortex shedding cycles at Reynolds number of 73 and 226 are shown and the differences between the two are highlighted. Quantitative descriptions of the previously described vortex splitting phenomenon in the near wake are made, which leads to a description of the vortex shedding mechanism at low Reynolds number. The definition of low-Reynolds-number formation region length is examined. The strength of shed vortices obtained from integration of the vorticity is compared with directly measured vortex strengths and with the results of two-dimensional numerical analysis.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Arnal ◽  
D. J. Goering ◽  
J. A. C. Humphrey

The characteristics of the flow around a bluff body of square cross-section in contact with a solid-wall boundary are investigated numerically using a finite difference procedure. Previous studies (Taneda, 1965; Kamemoto et al., 1984) have shown qualitatively the strong influence of solid-wall boundaries on the vortex-shedding process and the formation of the vortex street downstream. In the present study three cases are investigated which correspond to flow past a square rib in a freestream, flow past a rib on a fixed wall and flow past a rib on a sliding wall. Values of the Reynolds number studied ranged from 100 to 2000, where the Reynolds number is based on the rib height, H, and bulk stream velocity, Ub. Comparisons between the sliding-wall and fixed-wall cases show that the sliding wall has a significant destabilizing effect on the recirculation region behind the rib. Results show the onset of unsteadiness at a lower Reynolds number for the sliding-wall case (50 ≤ Recrit ≤100) than for the fixed-wall case (Recrit≥100). A careful examination of the vortex-shedding process reveals similarities between the sliding-wall case and both the freestream and fixed-wall cases. At moderate Reynolds numbers (Re≥250) the sliding-wall results show that the rib periodically sheds vortices of alternating circulation in much the same manner as the rib in a freestream; as in, for example, Davis and Moore [1982]. The vortices are distributed asymmetrically downstream of the rib and are not of equal strength as in the freestream case. However, the sliding-wall case shows no tendency to develop cycle-to-cycle variations at higher Reynolds numbers, as observed in the freestream and fixed-wall cases. Thus, while the moving wall causes the flow past the rib to become unsteady at a lower Reynolds number than in the fixed-wall case, it also acts to stabilize or “lock-in” the vortex-shedding frequency. This is attributed to the additional source of positive vorticity immediately downstream of the rib on the sliding wall.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sintu Singha ◽  
K. P. Sinhamahapatra ◽  
S. K. Mukherjea

The two-dimensional incompressible laminar viscous flow of a conducting fluid past a square cylinder placed centrally in a channel subjected to an imposed transverse magnetic field has been simulated to study the effect of a magnetic field on vortex shedding from a bluff body at different Reynolds numbers varying from 50 to 250. The present staggered grid finite difference simulation shows that for a steady flow the separated zone behind the cylinder is reduced as the magnetic field strength is increased. For flows in the periodic vortex shedding and unsteady wake regime an imposed transverse magnetic field is found to have a considerable effect on the flow characteristics with marginal increase in Strouhal number and a marked drop in the unsteady lift amplitude indicating a reduction in the strength of the shed vortices. It has further been observed, that it is possible to completely eliminate the periodic vortex shedding at the higher Reynolds numbers and to establish a steady flow if a sufficiently strong magnetic field is imposed. The necessary strength of the magnetic field, however, depends on the flow Reynolds number and increases with the increase in Reynolds number. This paper describes the algorithm in detail and presents important results that show the effect of the magnetic field on the separated wake and on the periodic vortex shedding process.


1991 ◽  
Vol 226 ◽  
pp. 219-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Green ◽  
J. H. Gerrard

A Fizeau optical interferometer has been used to visualize the wake behind a circular cylinder at low Reynolds numbers Re. As well as showing the vortex shedding mechanism and development of the far wake in a new light, the shed vortex strength and age were derived from the results. The vortex velocity distributions, at downstream distances of 5 to 16 diameters, were found to be those of convected Oseen vortices. These measurements confirmed the existence of a transition at Re ≈ 100, which reflects the emergence of convection as the dominant process in the near wake.


1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Monson

This paper establishes the drag characteristics of finite cylinders of aspect ratio 1, 4, 10 and 100 for Reynolds numbers less than 1000 including the viscous regime. The effect of the drag and vortex shedding characteristics of curving a finite cylinder into a toroidal shape is investigated. The curvature reduces drag by as much as 13 percent over its linear counterpart in the viscous regime. Vortex shedding characteristics of tori include all the features of cylinders in addition to a solidity range that behaves like solid bodies and an intermediate range where two vortex flow patterns can exist. These patterns can occur either as alternating ring vortices or a less common but more stable counterrotating helical vortex pair.


2001 ◽  
Vol 426 ◽  
pp. 263-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUPAD M. DAREKAR ◽  
SPENCER J. SHERWIN

Numerical investigations have been performed for the flow past square-section cylinders with a spanwise geometric deformation leading to a stagnation face with a sinusoidal waviness. The computations were performed using a spectral/hp element solver over a range of Reynolds numbers from 10 to 150.Starting from fully developed shedding past a straight cylinder at a Reynolds number of 100, a sufficiently high waviness is impulsively introduced resulting in the stabilization of the near wake to a time-independent state. It is shown that the spanwise waviness sets up a cross-flow within the growing boundary layer on the leading-edge surface thereby generating streamwise and vertical components of vorticity. These additional components of vorticity appear in regions close to the inflection points of the wavy stagnation face where the spanwise vorticity is weakened. This redistribution of vorticity leads to the breakdown of the unsteady and staggered Kármán vortex wake into a steady and symmetric near-wake structure. The steady nature of the near wake is associated with a reduction in total drag of about 16% at a Reynolds number of 100 compared with the straight, non-wavy cylinder.Further increases in the amplitude of the waviness lead to the emergence of hairpin vortices from the near-wake region. This wake topology has similarities to the wake of a sphere at low Reynolds numbers. The physical structure of the wake due to the variation of the amplitude of the waviness is identified with five distinct regimes. Furthermore, the introduction of a waviness at a wavelength close to the mode A wavelength and the primary wavelength of the straight square-section cylinder leads to the suppression of the Kármán street at a minimal waviness amplitude.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2679-2693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Li ◽  
Xuhui He ◽  
Hanfeng Wang ◽  
Si Peng ◽  
Shuwei Zhou ◽  
...  

Experiments on the aerodynamics of a two-dimensional bluff body simplified from a China high-speed train in crosswinds were carried out in a wind tunnel. Effects of wind angle of attack α varying in [−20°, 20°] were investigated at a moderate Reynolds number Re = 9.35 × 104 (based on the height of the model). Four typical behaviors of aerodynamics were identified. These behaviors are attributed to the flow structure around the upper and lower halves of the model changing from full to intermittent reattachment, and to full separation with a variation in α. An alternate transition phenomenon, characterized by an alteration between large- and small-amplitude aerodynamic fluctuations, was detected. The frequency of this alteration is about 1/10 of the predominant vortex shedding. In the intervals of the large-amplitude behavior, aerodynamic forces fluctuate periodically with a strong span-wise coherence, which are caused by the anti-symmetric vortex shedding along the stream-wise direction. On the contrary, the aerodynamic forces fluctuating at small amplitudes correspond to a weak span-wise coherence, which are ascribed to the symmetric vortex shedding from the upper and lower halves of the model. Generally, the mean amplitude of the large-amplitude mode is 3 times larger than that of the small one. Finally, the effects of Reynolds number were examined within Re = [9.35 × 104, 2.49 × 105]. Strong Reynolds number dependence was observed on the model with two rounded upper corners.


Author(s):  
S. Nagaya ◽  
R. E. Baddour

CFD simulations of crossflows around a 2-D circular cylinder and the resulting vortex shedding from the cylinder are conducted in the present study. The capability of the CFD solver for vortex shedding simulation from a circular cylinder is validated in terms of the induced drag and lifting forces and associated Strouhal numbers computations. The validations are done for uniform horizontal fluid flows at various Reynolds numbers in the range 103 to 5×105. Crossflows around the circular cylinder beneath a free surface are also simulated in order to investigate the characteristics of the interaction between vortex shedding and a free surface at Reynolds number 5×105. The influence of the presence of the free surface on the vortex shedding due to the cylinder is discussed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 238 ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Em Karniadakis ◽  
George S. Triantafyllou

The wakes of bluff objects and in particular of circular cylinders are known to undergo a ‘fast’ transition, from a laminar two-dimensional state at Reynolds number 200 to a turbulent state at Reynolds number 400. The process has been documented in several experimental investigations, but the underlying physical mechanisms have remained largely unknown so far. In this paper, the transition process is investigated numerically, through direct simulation of the Navier—Stokes equations at representative Reynolds numbers, up to 500. A high-order time-accurate, mixed spectral/spectral element technique is used. It is shown that the wake first becomes three-dimensional, as a result of a secondary instability of the two-dimensional vortex street. This secondary instability appears at a Reynolds number close to 200. For slightly supercritical Reynolds numbers, a harmonic state develops, in which the flow oscillates at its fundamental frequency (Strouhal number) around a spanwise modulated time-average flow. In the near wake the modulation wavelength of the time-average flow is half of the spanwise wavelength of the perturbation flow, consistently with linear instability theory. The vortex filaments have a spanwise wavy shape in the near wake, and form rib-like structures further downstream. At higher Reynolds numbers the three-dimensional flow oscillation undergoes a period-doubling bifurcation, in which the flow alternates between two different states. Phase-space analysis of the flow shows that the basic limit cycle has branched into two connected limit cycles. In physical space the period doubling appears as the shedding of two distinct types of vortex filaments.Further increases of the Reynolds number result in a cascade of period-doubling bifurcations, which create a chaotic state in the flow at a Reynolds number of about 500. The flow is characterized by broadband power spectra, and the appearance of intermittent phenomena. It is concluded that the wake undergoes transition to turbulence following the period-doubling route.


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