Wake Formation for an Oscillating Small-Incidence-Angle Cylinder Pair in Cross-Flow

Abstract

The wake region of a pair of equal-diameter staggered circular cylinders in cross-flow is investigated experimentally for Reynolds numbers, based on the mean flow velocity, U, and the cylinder diameter, D, within the range 540 ≤ Re ≤ 755. The centre-to-centre pitch ratio and stagger angle of the cylinders at their mean position are P/D = 2.0 and α = 16°, respectively. In an earlier study, wake formation of a small-incident-angle cylinder pair was investigated for forced oscillation (transverse to the flow direction) of the upstream cylinder only. The present study is aimed to reveal the modification of the wake when the oscillation is shifted from the upstream to downstream cylinder or vice versa. Results with cylinder excitation frequencies in the range 0.07 ≤ feD/U ≤ 1.10 are reported. It is observed that for both upstream and downstream cylinder oscillations with frequency feD/U ≤ 0.10 the wake flow patterns remain essentially the same as those of the corresponding static cases. However, for frequency feD/U > 0.10 the wake undergoes considerable modification vis-a`-vis when the cylinders are stationary, and the flow pattern within the wake is strongly dependent on feD/U value. As also observed in the previous study, there are distinct regions of synchronization between the dominant wake periodicities and the cylinder oscillation over the whole range of feD/U. These synchronizations involve sub- and super-harmonics as well as fundamental synchronizations and are the result of the formation of two rows of vortices, one on either side of the combined wake of the cylinder pair. The manner in which the wake responds to the cylinder oscillation depends strongly on whether it is the upstream or downstream cylinder which is oscillating. Flow-visualization images suggests that the synchronizations on the mean-flow side of the downstream cylinder occur from the outer vortices shed by the downstream cylinder, and those on the mean-flow side of the upstream cylinder occur from the vortices formed by the interaction of the two gap shear layers and the outer shear layer separated from the upstream cylinder.