A circular cylinder undergoing large-amplitude transverse oscillations in a slow uniform cross flow

Abstract

This study explores the vortex patterns formed by a circular cylinder undergoing lateral cylinder oscillations with large amplitudes and in the presence of a slow uniform cross flow. It is an extension of our previous study (Lam et al., 2010b) in which formation of the 2S, 2P and P+S vortex modes were discussed from the viewpoint of interaction of a uniform cross-flow with the vortex street patterns of a cylinder oscillating in an otherwise quiescent fluid at Keulegan–Carpenter numbers up to KC=8.9. The present paper reports three additional experimental sets in which the amplitudes of cylinder oscillations have even larger values, at A/D>2.5, and lie beyond the vortex mode map usually quoted from Williamson and Roshko (1988). It is found that the slow uniform cross-flow at λ/D≈3 and Reynolds number based on cross-flow velocity at 232 acts to convect the corresponding vortex patterns in the absence of cross-flow downstream across the line of cylinder oscillation. Vortex–vortex interaction and vortex–cylinder interaction are observed to affect the subsequent development of vortices. The P+S vortex mode is found to occur up to KC=16. At KC between 16 and 24, a new vortex mode is observed in which only one vortex pair can be convected downstream every cylinder oscillation cycle. Another new vortex mode with two vortex pairs and two stationary vortices are found at KC>24.