Pressure-fluctuation measurements on an oscillating circular cylinder

Abstract

Measurements are presented of the fluctuating pressure recorded at a point 90° from the mean position of the forward stagnation point on a circular cylinder oscillating in a water flow. The aspect ratio of the cylinder was 9·5 and the turbulence level in the free-stream was 5·5%. The cylinder Reynolds number was 2·4 × 104 and the cylinder was forced to oscillate transverse to the main flow at amplitudes up to 1·33 cylinder diameters. The reduced velocity was varied over the range 3–18 and the experiments spanned the vortex-shedding lock-in range. Measurements of phase difference between pressure and displacement show that the maximum out-of-phase lift force occurs at an amplitude of about half a diameter. Good agreement is found between measurements on forced and freely oscillating cylinders. A simple potential-flow model gives reasonable predictions of the pressure fluctuations at the body frequency and at twice the body frequency at reduced velocities away from lock-in.