An Experimental Study on the Vertical Flow Past a Finite-Length Horizontal Cylinder at Low Reynolds Numbers

2014 ◽  
Vol 493 ◽  
pp. 68-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willy Stevanus ◽  
Yi Jiun Peter Lin

The research studies the characteristics of the vertical flow past a finite-length horizontal cylinder at low Reynolds numbers (ReD) from 250 to 1080. The experiments were performed in a vertical closed-loop water tunnel. Flow fields were observed by the particle tracer approach for flow visualization and measured by the Particle Image Velocimetry (P.I.V.) approach for velocity fields. The characteristics of vortex formation in the wake of the finite-length cylinder change at different regions from the tip to the base of it. Near the tip, a pair of vortices in the wake was observed and the size of the vortex increased as the observed section was away from the tip. Around a distance of 3 diameters of the cylinder from its tip, the vortex street in the wake was observed. The characteristics of vortex formation also change with increasing Reynolds numbers. At X/D = -3, a pair of vortices was observed in the wake for ReD = 250, but as the ReD increases the vortex street was observed at the same section. The vortex shedding frequency is analyzed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Experimental results show that the downwash flow affects the vortex shedding frequency even to 5 diameters of the cylinder from its tip. The interaction between the downwash flow and the Von Kármán vortex street in the wake of the cylinder is presented in this paper.

Author(s):  
Minter Cheng

Fluid flow across a bluff body can induce a series alternating vortices in the downstream flow field. The vortex flow can produce adverse effects on many engineering applications. A number of studies have shown that the wake splitter plate is one of the means to stabilize the vortex formation process. However, most of the previous studies are confined to cylinders with attached splitter plates. Very few studies investigate the effects of the spacing between the cylinder and the splitter plate on the formation of wake vortices. In the present study, the effects of the splitter plate length as well as the gap distance between the splitter plate and the cylinder on the wake flow behind a cylinder have been studied experimentally for low Reynolds number of 400. Both circular and square cylinders are studied in this research. Four splitter plates with different length, 1 ≤ L/D ≤ 4, have been used and a range of cylinder and splitter plate gap distance, 0 < G/D < 6, have been studied. By using flow visualization technique and hot-film anemometer measurement, detailed measurements of the velocity distribution, the vortex shedding frequency, the wake width, and the wake formation length are carried out in order to get a clear understanding of the flow interference behavior. The experimental results indicate that splitter plates alter the vortex formation process in the wake causing a decrease in vortex shedding frequency. The Strouhal number decreases with increasing the splitter plate length as well as the gap distance between the cylinder and the splitter plate. It is shown that a jump in Strouhal number occurs at G/D of 3 to 6. The jump is splitter plate length dependent, and generally the gap distance at which jump takes place increases as the splitter plate length increases.


Author(s):  
Aimie Faucett ◽  
Todd Harman ◽  
Tim Ameel

Flow around a rigid, truncated, wall-mounted cylinder with an aspect ratio of 5 is examined computationally at various Reynolds numbers Re to determine how the end effects impact the vortex shedding frequency. The existence of the wall and free end cause a dampening of the classical shedding frequency found for a semi-infinite, two-dimensional cylinder, as horseshoe vortices along the wall and flow over the tip entrain into the shedding region. This effect was observed for Reynolds numbers in the range of 50 to 2000, and quantified by comparing the modified Strouhal numbers to the classical (two-dimensional) solution for Strouhal number as a function of Reynolds number. The range of transition was found to be 220 < Re < 300, versus 150 < Re < 300 for the classical case. Vortex shedding started at Re ≈ 100, significantly above Re = 50, where shedding starts for the two-dimensional case.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sakamoto ◽  
H. Haniu

Vortex shedding from spheres at Reynolds numbers from 3 × 102 to 4 × 104 in a uniform flow was investigated experimentally. Standard hot-wire technique were used to measure the vortex shedding frequency from spheres in a low-speed wind tunnel. Flow-visualization experiments were carried out in a water channel. Important results from the investigation were that (i) the variation of the Strouhal number St (=fD/U0, U0: freestream velocity, D: diameter of the sphere, f: vortex shedding frequency) with the Reynolds number (= U0D/v, v: kinematic viscosity) can be classified into four regions, (ii) the Reynolds number at which the hairpinshaped vortices begin to change from laminar to turbulent vortices so that the wake structure behind the sphere is not shown clearly when a Reynolds number of about 800 is reached, and (vi) at Reynolds numbers ranging from 8X102 to 1.5X104, the higher and lower frequency modes of the Strouhal number coexist.


1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen M. Griffin

A universal wake Strouhal number, St* =fsd′/Ub, has been proposed and is based upon the Strouhal frequency fs of the incident flow, the measured wake width d′ at the end of the vortex formation region, and the mean velocity Ub at the edge of the separated boundary layer. This universal parameter collapses these characteristic parameters for bluff bodies onto a single curve for wake Reynolds numbers between Re* = 100 and 107. The pressure drag, vortex shedding frequency and base pressure are related through an inverse dependence between St* and a wake drag coefficient CD* = CD/(d′/d) K2, where K = (1−Cpb)1/2. The product St* CD* is equal to a constant value of 0.073 ± 0.005 for Re* in this same range of Reynolds numbers.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
R. L. Ferreira ◽  
E. D. R. Vieira

The flow around a circular cylinder has awaken the attention of different researchers since the historic Strouhal's work of 1878. Ever since, many experimental and numeric works have been carried out in order to determine the relationship between the vortex shedding frequency and the flow regime. Recently, a number of studies have been developed using several small modifications in circular cylinder. In this work a circular cylinder modified with a longitudinal concave notch, has been tested in order to determine the relationship between the non-dimensional vortex shedding frequency (Strouhal number) and the Reynolds number has been determined to Reynolds up to 600. Additionally a modified circular cylinder with a longitudinal slit also has been tested in order to determine the Strouhal-Reynolds relationship in several attack angle configurations. The experiments have been carried out in a vertical low turbulence hydrodynamic tunnel with 146x146x500 mm of test section operating in continuous mode. Flow visualization by direct liquid dye injection has been utilized in order to produce vortex images. These images have been captured in still chemical photography for different Reynolds numbers. A hot-film probe has been adequately positioned in the vortex wake to determine the vortex shedding frequency and consequently the Strouhal number.


1982 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Stapountzis ◽  
J.M.R. Graham

SummaryThe unsteady lift generated on a NACA 0015 aerofoil, a D cylinder (with the flat face down-stream) and an elliptic cylinder was measured when these bodies were exposed to a flow with a two-dimensional sinusoidal upwash at reduced frequencies 0.05 to 0.8. The mean flow Reynolds numbers were in the range 1.2 × 105 to 3 × 105. Unsteady thin aerofoil theory was used in an attempt to predict the unsteady lift on the bluff bodies, as well as the aerofoil section for fequencies in the low range below the vortex shedding frequency. The results were quite accurate for the aerofoil and the D cylinder, but the aerodynamic admittance predicted by this theory for the elliptic cylinder was significantly above that measured experimentally. The movement of the two free separation points was found to play an important role in the characteristic lift behaviour of the elliptic cylinder.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Ferreira ◽  
E. D. R. Vieira

The flow around a circular cylinder has awaken the attention of different researchers since the historic Strouhal's work of 1878. Ever since, many experimental and numeric works have been carried out in order to determine the relationship between the vortex shedding frequency and the flow regime. Recently, a number of studies have been developed using several small modifications in circular cylinder. In this work a circular cylinder modified with a longitudinal concave notch, has been tested in order to determine the relationship between the non-dimensional vortex shedding frequency (Strouhal number) and the Reynolds number has been determined to Reynolds up to 600. Additionally a modified circular cylinder with a longitudinal slit also has been tested in order to determine the Strouhal-Reynolds relationship in several attack angle configurations. The experiments have been carried out in a vertical low turbulence hydrodynamic tunnel with 146x146x500 mm of test section operating in continuous mode. Flow visualization by direct liquid dye injection has been utilized in order to produce vortex images. These images have been captured in still chemical photography for different Reynolds numbers. A hot-film probe has been adequately positioned in the vortex wake to determine the vortex shedding frequency and consequently the Strouhal number.


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