Pressure field and wake modes analysis of an oscillating cylinder

Abstract

This work proposes a numerical investigation of the main flow field characteristics and pressure field analysis around a freely oscillating rigid circular cylinder immersed in a high Reynolds number flow in the subcritical range. The cylinder is characterized by high value of mass ratio and mass damping, while the damping itself is quite low. Here the numerical results are compared with experimental data obtained in the Politecnico di Milano wind tunnel under the same fluid dynamic and mechanical conditions. The preliminary check of this numerical setup was provided by considering the case of a fixed cylinder in the subcritical region. Based on this benchmark, the full setup was checked by considering fluid dynamic conditions outside the lock-in region.Finally, a number of points were investigated on the cylinder's steady state response curve in the lock-in region. The numerical model yielded good results in terms of cylinder amplitude response, aerodynamic forces and pressure field analysis, in agreement with the results of the experiment. Analysis of the numerical reconstruction of the flow field evolution is therefore considered to yield further information on the vortex shedding mode, especially in the transition region between 2S and 2P mode.