On the Intrinsic Mechanism of Wakes Interference Past Two Cylinders Towed Beneath a Free Surface
An experimental study of the flow past a set of two horizontal cylinders is presented. The cylinders are towed in a uniformly accelerated and decelerated motion in a visualization tank in order to enhance the vortex effects. The main cylinder (D = 0.04 m; L/D = 16) is placed in the flow past a front one (d = 0.002m; L/D = 16). They are towed beneath the free surface and the drag and lift forces are measured. The main cylinder wake pattern is visualized by an embarked CCD camera. The Reynolds number based on the maximum velocity is from 0 to 14000 and the Froude number based on the main cylinder immersion from 0.2 to 1.2 for an acceleration value of 0.15m.s-2. It is shown that the near wake is made of a combination of the main cylinder Von Karman vortices and those of the front cylinder. The interference phenomenon and the free surface effects are studied by varying the depth parameter and the two cylinders arrangements.