Wake Of Circular Cylinder Research Articles

Wavelet multi-scale analysis of the circular cylinder wake under synthetic jets control

The wavelet method is used to study the multi-scale vortical structures of the flow around a circular cylinder without and with synthetic jet control at Re = 950. The velocity field is decomposed into 9 wavelet components, including one approximation component and 8 detail components. The first component shows the flow characteristics at low frequency. The dominant components represent large-scale vortical structures in the flow and they show similar distributions for the same wake pattern. Other detail components reflect the characteristics of relatively small-scale structures. The individual vortex dynamics underlying the complex flow can be extracted and thus reconstructed by the approximation and dominant components. Thus, we show an effective approach to reveal the flow physics from the complex flow.

Investigations on a vortex induced vibration based energy harvester

This study investigates energy harvesting from vortex induced vibrations of a flexible cantilevered flapper placed in the wake of a rigid circular cylinder. The effect of the gap between the cylinder and the flapper on the energy harvested is investigated through wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations. As the flow speed is varied, a transition in the flapper dynamics is observed, which in turn affects the power extracted by the harvester. Numerical investigations reveal that the flapper dynamics is different depending on whether the vortices are shed ahead or behind the flapper. This study concludes that the choice of the gap influences the energy harvesting potential of such harvesters.

Viscous near-wall flow in a wake of circular cylinder at moderate Reynolds numbers

Here we present the results of experimental investigation of a cross flow around a circular cylinder mounted near the wall of a channel with rectangular cross section. The experiments were carried out in the range of Reynolds numbers corresponding to the transition to turbulence in a wake of the cylinder. Flow visualization and SIV-measurements of instantaneous velocity fields were carried out. Evolution of the flow pattern behind the cylinder and formation of the regular vortex structures were analyzed. It is shown that in the case of flow around the cylinder, there is no spiral motion of fluid from the side walls of the channel towards its symmetry plane, typical of the flow around a spanwise rib located on the channel wall. The laminar-turbulent transition in the wake of the cylinder is caused by the shear layer instability.

Stochastic modelling and diffusion modes for proper orthogonal decomposition models and small-scale flow analysis

We present here a new stochastic modelling approach in the constitution of fluid flow reduced-order models. This framework introduces a spatially inhomogeneous random field to represent the unresolved small-scale velocity component. Such a decomposition of the velocity in terms of a smooth large-scale velocity component and a rough, highly oscillating component gives rise, without any supplementary assumption, to a large-scale flow dynamics that includes a modified advection term together with an inhomogeneous diffusion term. Both of those terms, related respectively to turbophoresis and mixing effects, depend on the variance of the unresolved small-scale velocity component. They bring an explicit subgrid term to the reduced system which enables us to take into account the action of the truncated modes. Besides, a decomposition of the variance tensor in terms of diffusion modes provides a meaningful statistical representation of the stationary or non-stationary structuration of the small-scale velocity and of its action on the resolved modes. This supplies a useful tool for turbulent fluid flow data analysis. We apply this methodology to circular cylinder wake flow at Reynolds numbers $Re=100$ and $Re=3900$. The finite-dimensional models of the wake flows reveal the energy and the anisotropy distributions of the small-scale diffusion modes. These distributions identify critical regions where corrective advection effects, as well as structured energy dissipation effects, take place. In providing rigorously derived subgrid terms, the proposed approach yields accurate and robust temporal reconstruction of the low-dimensional models.

Three-dimensionality of elliptical cylinder wakes at low angles of incidence

The wake of an elliptical cylinder at low incident angles is investigated for different aspect ratio ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}=\text{major:minor axis ratio}$) cylinders using stability analysis and direct simulations. In particular, two- and three-dimensional transitions are mapped for cylinders of aspect ratios between 1 and 4 using Floquet stability analysis. The transition scenario for near-unity aspect ratio cylinders resembles that for a circular cylinder wake as Reynolds number is increased to $Re\lesssim 400$; first, with the transition from steady two-dimensional flow to unsteady two-dimensional flow, followed by the onset of three-dimensional flow via a long-wavelength instability (mode A), then, a short-wavelength instability (mode B) and, finally, an intermediary wavelength instability which is quasi-periodic in nature (mode QP). The effect of the incident angle on this transition scenario for the low-aspect-ratio cylinders is minimal. As the aspect ratio is increased towards 2, two synchronous modes, modes $\widehat{\text{A}}$ and $\widehat{\text{B}}$, become unstable; these modes have spatio-temporal symmetries similar to their circular cylinder wake counterparts, modes A and mode B, respectively. While mode $\widehat{\text{A}}$ persists for all incident angles investigated here, mode $\widehat{\text{B}}$ is found only to be unstable for incident angles up to $10^{\circ }$. Surprisingly, for $1.8\lesssim \unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}\lesssim 2.9$, the mode A instability observed at zero incident angle emerges as a quasi-periodic mode as the incident angle is increased even slightly. At higher incident angles, this quasi-periodic mode once again transforms to a real mode on increasing the Reynolds number. The parameter space maps for the various aspect ratios are presented in the Reynolds number–incident angle plane, and the three-dimensional modes are discussed in terms of similarities to and differences from existing modes. A key aim of the work is to map the different modes and various transition sequences as a simple body geometry is systematically changed and as the flow symmetry is systematically broken; thus, insight is provided on the overall path towards fully turbulent flow.

Mechanism of transition to turbulence in a circular cylinder wake in a channel

Transition to turbulence in the circular cylinder wake has been studied experimentally and numerically at growing Reynolds number. Good agreement of calculation results with the flow visualization and measurements of instantaneous vector fields of velocity and vorticity has been demonstrated. The growing Reynolds number is shown to make large-scale vortex generation onset move upstream. It also triggers the transition to 3D flow pattern in the cylinder wake. This process is accompanied by non-monotonous behavior of the profiles of velocity and its turbulent fluctuations at equal distances from the cylinder. Non-monotonous behavior of the cylinder drag has been revealed for the Reynolds numbers ranging from 120 to 300.

Flow over an inline oscillating circular cylinder in the wake of a stationary circular cylinder

Flow interference between an upstream stationary cylinder and an inline oscillating cylinder is studied with the lattice Boltzmann method. With a fixed Reynolds number Re = 100 and pitch ratio L/D = 4, the effects of oscillation amplitude A/D = [0.25, 1] and frequency fe/fs = [0.5, 2] are investigated. The wake response state is categorized into lock-in and non-lock-in. The lock-in zone in the bifurcation diagram of amplitude versus frequency is discontinuous. Response states of upstream and downstream wakes are similar under the conditions of small amplitude or low frequency. However, with large oscillating parameters, the two wakes are prone to be in different states as the flow field becomes irregular. Two distinct flow regimes have been identified, i.e., single-cylinder and two-cylinder shedding regimes. The presence of single-cylinder shedding regime is attributed to the low shedding frequency of the downstream cylinder at large amplitude. Hydrodynamic forces of the oscillating tandem system are discussed. The results reveal that forces on the two cylinders behave differently and that the absence of vortices in the gap flow significantly reduces the forces exerting on the tandem system.

A universal three-dimensional instability of the wakes of two-dimensional bluff bodies

Linear stability analysis of a wide range of two-dimensional and axisymmetric bluff-body wakes shows that the first three-dimensional mode to became unstable is always mode E. From the studies presented in this paper, it is speculated to be the universal primary 3D instability, irrespective of the flow configuration. However, since it is a transition from a steady two-dimensional flow, whether this mode can be observed in practice does depend on the nature of the flow set-up. For example, the mode E transition of a circular cylinder wake occurs at a Reynolds number of $\mathit{Re}\simeq 96$, which is considerably higher than the steady to unsteady Hopf bifurcation at $\mathit{Re}\simeq 46$ leading to Bénard–von-Kármán shedding. On the other hand, if the absolute instability responsible for the latter transition is suppressed, by rotating the cylinder or moving it towards a wall, then mode E may become the first transition of the steady flow. A well-known example is flow over a backward-facing step, where this instability is the first global instability to be manifested on the otherwise two-dimensional steady flow. Many other examples are considered in this paper. Exploring this further, a structural stability analysis (Pralits et al.J. Fluid Mech., vol. 730, 2013, pp. 5–18) was conducted for the subset of flows past a rotating cylinder as the rotation rate was varied. For the non-rotating or slowly rotating case, this indicated that the growth rate of the instability mode was sensitive to forcing between the recirculation lobes, while for the rapidly rotating case, it confirmed sensitivity near the cylinder and towards the hyperbolic point. For the non-rotating case, the perturbation, adjoint and structural stability fields, together with the wavelength selection, show some similarities with those of a Crow instability of a counter-rotating vortex pair, at least within the recirculation zones. On the other hand, at much higher rotation rates, Pralits et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 730, 2013, pp. 5–18) have suggested that hyperbolic instability may play a role. However, both instabilities lie on the same continuous solution branch in Reynolds number/rotation-rate parameter space. The results suggest that this particular flow transition at least, and probably others, may have a number of different physical mechanisms supporting their development.

Experimental investigation on wake characteristics behind a yawed square cylinder

The wake vortical structures of a square cylinder at different yaw angles to the incoming flow (α=0°, 15°, 30° and 45°) are studied using a one-dimensional (1D) hot-wire vorticity probe at a Reynolds number (Re) of about 3600. The results are compared with those obtained in a yawed circular cylinder wake. The Strouhal number (StN) as well as the mean drag coefficient (CDN), normalized by the velocity component normal to the cylinder axis, follow the independent principle (IP) satisfactorily up to α=40°. Using the phase-averaging analysis, both the coherent and the remaining contributions of velocity and vorticity are quantified. The flow patterns of the coherent spanwise vorticity (ωz) display obvious Kármán vortex streets and their maximum concentrations decrease as α increases. Similar phenomena are also shown in the coherent contours of the streamwise (u) and transverse (v) velocities as well as the Reynolds shear stress (uv). The contours of the spanwise velocity (w) and Reynolds shear stress (uw), however, experience an increasing trend for the maximum concentrations with increasing yaw angle. These results indicate an enhancement of the three-dimensionality of the wake and the reduction of vortex shedding strength as α increases. While general similarities to the wake behind a yawed circular cylinder are found in terms of flow features, some differences between the two wakes at different yaw angles are highlighted.

POD ANALYSIS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL HARMONICALLY FORCED WAKE FLOW OF A CIRCULAR CYLINDER

A 3D numerical simulation of a circular cylinder wake is presented in this paper. The cylinder is harmonically forced in the stream-wise direction. The objective of the present work is to investigate the effect of the oscillation amplitude on the secondary transition of the wake. The frequency of the lift force is then linked to the form of the vortex shedding mode. The relation between these vortex shedding modes using POD analysis of the transverse velocity and the unsteady lift coefficient of 3D simulation is in good agreement with the 2D model. Results show that the 3D spanwise effect, which can change the wake structure, is suppressed at Re = 200 by streamwise oscillation of the cylinder. Thus the 2D analysis can effectively model the temporal instability of the wake flow.

Volumetric particle image velocimetry with a single plenoptic camera

A novel three-dimensional (3D), three-component (3C) particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique based on volume illumination and light field imaging with a single plenoptic camera is described. A plenoptic camera uses a densely packed microlens array mounted near a high resolution image sensor to sample the spatial and angular distribution of light collected by the camera. The multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (MART) computed tomography algorithm is used to reconstruct a volumetric intensity field from individual snapshots and a cross-correlation algorithm is used to estimate the velocity field from a pair of reconstructed particle volumes. This work provides an introduction to the basic concepts of light field imaging with a plenoptic camera and describes the unique implementation of MART in the context of plenoptic image data for 3D/3C PIV measurements. Simulations of a plenoptic camera using geometric optics are used to generate synthetic plenoptic particle images, which are subsequently used to estimate the quality of particle volume reconstructions at various particle number densities. 3D reconstructions using this method produce reconstructed particles that are elongated by a factor of approximately 4 along the optical axis of the camera. A simulated 3D Gaussian vortex is used to test the capability of single camera plenoptic PIV to produce a 3D/3C vector field, where it was found that lateral displacements could be measured to approximately 0.2 voxel accuracy in the lateral direction and 1 voxel in the depth direction over a voxel volume. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated experimentally using a home-built plenoptic camera based on a 16-megapixel interline CCD camera and a array of microlenses and a pulsed Nd:YAG laser. 3D/3C measurements were performed in the wake of a low Reynolds number circular cylinder and compared with measurements made using a conventional 2D/2C PIV system. Overall, single camera plenoptic PIV is shown to be a viable 3D/3C velocimetry technique.

Effects of cylinder Reynolds number on the turbulent horseshoe vortex system and near wake of a surface-mounted circular cylinder

The turbulent horseshoe vortex (HV) system and the near-wake flow past a circular cylinder mounted on a flat bed in an open channel are investigated based on the results of eddy-resolving simulations and supporting flow visualizations. Of particular interest are the changes in the mean flow and turbulence statistics within the HV region as the necklace vortices wrap around the cylinder’s base and the variation of the mean flow and turbulence statistics in the near wake, in between the channel bed and the free surface. While it is well known that the drag crisis induces important changes in the flow past infinitely long circular cylinders, the changes are less understood and more complex for the case of flow past a surface-mounted cylinder. This is because even at very high cylinder Reynolds numbers, ReD, the flow regime remains subcritical in the vicinity of the bed surface due to the reduction of the incoming flow velocity within the bottom boundary layer. The paper provides a detailed discussion of the changes in the flow physics between cylinder Reynolds numbers at which the flow in the upstream part of the separated shear layers (SSLs) is laminar (ReD = 16 000, subcritical flow regime) and Reynolds numbers at which the transition occurs inside the attached boundary layers away from the bed and the flow within the SSLs is turbulent (ReD = 5 ∗ 105, supercritical flow regime). The changes between the two regimes in the dynamics and level of coherence of the large-scale coherent structures (necklace vortices, vortex tubes shed in the SSLs and roller vortices shed in the wake) and their capacity to induce high-magnitude bed friction velocities in the mean and instantaneous flow fields and to amplify the near-bed turbulence are analyzed. Being able to quantitatively and qualitatively describe these changes is critical to understand Reynolds-number-induced scale effects on sediment erosion mechanisms around cylinders mounted on a loose bed, which is a problem of great practical relevance (e.g., for pier scour studies).

Numerical simulation with a TVD–FVM method for circular cylinder wake control by a fairing

A water drop-shaped fairing is applied to control the wake behind a circular cylinder and to suppress the formation of Karman vortex street in this paper. The results are evaluated using high resolution CFD technique. A finite-volume total variation diminishing (TVD) approach based upon the recently proposed elemental velocity vector transformation (EVVT) method, which aims at solving the incompressible turbulent flow for irregular boundary conditions with renormalization group (RNG) turbulence model, is used to simulate the flow field around circular cylinder systems. The calculations are carried out with cylinder systems with and without fairings, while the fairings have different top shape angles within the range of 30°~90°. The Reynolds number ranges from 1000 to 50000. It is shown that the simulation results of present numerical method reaches good agreement with the available experimental and numerical simulation data of typical circular cylinder flow and a fixed fairing cylinder system flow. Compared with bare cylinder, the faired bluff structures can obviously reduce the lift and drag forces and alter the vortex shedding frequency. Overall, the mean drag coefficient can be reduced up to about (10–31)% and the RMS lift coefficient can be reduced up to (30–99)% for all faired systems at given Reynolds numbers. The influence of Reynolds number and attack angles on the flow field characters of bare cylinder and faired cylinders is also discussed. The faired structures with shape angles within 30°~45°under zero-attack-angle-inflow case are considered as the optimal structures, with which the mean drag coefficient and the RMS lift coefficient can be reduced up to (26–31)% and (98–99)%, respectively. Considering the influence of attack angles on lift and drag coefficients reduction, 75° shaped faired structure may be taken as a proper option.

Heat and fluid flow characteristics of a rectangular channel with a small diameter circular cylinder as vortex generator

The flow characteristics and heat transfer performance of a rectangular channel with a small-scale circular cylinder vortex generator are numerically investigated with Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The circular cylinder is located in fully-developed turbulent boundary layer. The ratio of the gap between the circular cylinder and the channel bottom to the diameter of the circular cylinder G/D, varies from 0 to 6.0. The Reynolds number, based on the bulk velocity um and channel half-height H, is 3745. The influence of the circular cylinder wake on the wall boundary layer is probed. In addition, the effects of the presence of the small-scale vortex generator on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are investigated as well. The synthesis efficiency of heat transfer enhancement is characterized by the synthesis performance coefficient, which including Nusselt number and friction coefficient. The result shows that the interaction between the cylinder wake and the wall boundary layer can dramatically alter the flow structure of the turbulent boundary layer. The thermal performance of rectangular channel with small-scale vortex generator is improved prominently.

Flat plate boundary layer transition induced by a controlled near-wall circular cylinder wake

The flat plate boundary layer transition induced by the wake of a circular cylinder close to the wall is experimentally investigated using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and hydrogen bubble visualization techniques. The wake of the circular cylinder is controlled by a slot synthetic jet at the rear stagnation point of the circular cylinder. It is found that when the synthetic jet is actuated, the wake can be greatly modified. When the excitation frequency of the synthetic jet is set at the natural shedding frequency of the cylinder wake, the symmetrical shedding pattern can be observed. While the excitation frequency increases to be twice of the natural shedding frequency, the wake appears to be antisymmetrical again, but with the shedding frequency locked onto half of the excitation frequency. Flow visualizations show that spanwise secondary vortices can be induced in the near wall region by these large scale vortices in the wake. It is found that the secondary vortices destabilize into streamwise stretched Λ vortices as they convect downstream. After the introduction of the synthetic jet, the destabilization process is promoted. By investigating the disturbance growth inside the boundary layer, it reveals that the synthetic jet can cause earlier initialization of the disturbance growth, thus promoting the transition process of the boundary layer. An explanation is provided that the low frequency components of the wake disturbances, which interact with the boundary layer, are enhanced by the introduction of the synthetic jet. Therefore, the destabilization of the secondary vortices is promoted, and disturbance growth in the boundary layer initiates earlier.

Structure of Turbulent Channel Flow Perturbed by a Wall-Mounted Cylindrical Element

The current study reports structural modifications imposed in fully developed, turbulent channel flow by an isolated wall-mounted circular cylinder. The cylinder extended into the logarithmic layer of the flow, perturbing the larger flow scales that embody a significant fraction of the turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress. Hot-wire measurements were made in the wake of the wall-mounted circular cylinder at multiple wall-normal and streamwise positions. Besides observing the expected mean velocity deficit in the wake of the cylinder, a secondary peak in streamwise Reynolds normal stress away from the wall was observed, coupled with suppression of the near-wall peak native to the incoming unperturbed, turbulent flow. These observations are similar to those made by Ryan et al. (“Effects of Simple Wall-Mounted Cylinder Arrangements on a Turbulent Boundary Layer,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 49, No. 10, 2011, pp. 2210–2220) for a wall-mounted cylinder protruding into the logarithmic layer of a turbulent boundary layer. Premultiplied velocity spectra elaborated on these energy modifications, specifically the occurrence of two distinct energy peaks at two-thirds of the cylinder height and an attenuation of energy associated with larger flow scales close to the wall. All of these perturbations were found to decay with streamwise distance downstream as the flow relaxed toward the unperturbed state. A clear persistence of the structures at the aforementioned peak at two-thirds cylinder height, similar in scale to the very large-scale motions in canonical wall turbulence, suggests an environment preferring structures of such scale. The influence of the cylinder aspect ratio on the characteristics of the perturbed flow is evaluated, and a distinction in wake structure is identified.

Full-scale measurement of wind pressure on the surface of an oscillating circular cylinders

Under wind excitation, many slender structural members with circular cross sections have exhibited large-amplitude vibrations. The nature of some problematic vibrations remains to be fully understood. To investigate the excitation mechanisms that can cause the vibrations, an experimental campaign was conducted to measure simultaneously the wind pressure on the surface of a circular cylinder in the atmospheric boundary layer and the acceleration of this cylinder. The pressure and acceleration measurements were used to investigate the interaction between the cylinder and the turbulent wind in subcritical and critical Reynolds number ranges. The study revealed several effects of turbulence in wind in the atmospheric boundary layer on the critical transition, including the promotion of early critical transition, the attenuation of the single separation bubble, and the early cessation of the coherent vortex shedding. A coherent fluctuating axial flow component in the wake of circular cylinders yawed to the flow, which has been previously observed in wind tunnel tests in smooth flow and postulated to be critical for the onset of dry cylinder vibration at high reduced velocity, was not observed in the present experiment.

Optimal streaks in the circular cylinder wake and suppression of the global instability

AbstractThe steady, spanwise-periodic, symmetric (varicose) optimal blowing and suction that maximizes energy amplification in the circular cylinder wake is computed at Reynolds numbers ranging from 50 to 100. It is found that the cylinder wake can sustain large energy amplifications that are associated with the generation by the optimal blowing and suction of streamwise vortices near the cylinder, which then induce the transient spatial growth of high-energy streamwise streaks further downstream. The most amplified perturbations have spanwise wavelengths ranging from five to seven times the cylinder diameter at the Reynolds numbers considered, with the corresponding optimal streaks reaching their maximum amplitude in the near wake, inside the pocket of absolute instability which sustains the global instability. The optimal blowing and suction is shown to stabilize the global linear instability. The most stabilizing spanwise wavelengths are in good agreement with previous findings. The amplitude of optimal blowing and suction required to suppress the global instability decreases when the Reynolds number $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\mathit{Re}$ is increased from 75 to 100. This trend reveals the key role played by the non-normal amplification of the streaks in the stabilization process, which is able to overcome the increase of the uncontrolled global growth rate with $\mathit{Re}$. Finally, it is shown that the global instability can be suppressed with control amplitudes smaller than those required by 2-D (spanwise-uniform) control. This result is not what would be expected from first-order sensitivity analyses, which predict a zero sensitivity of the global instability to spanwise-periodic control and, in general, a non-zero sensitivity to spanwise-uniform control.

Low-Reynolds-number wakes of elliptical cylinders: from the circular cylinder to the normal flat plate

AbstractWhile the wake of a circular cylinder and, to a lesser extent, the normal flat plate have been studied in considerable detail, the wakes of elliptic cylinders have not received similar attention. However, the wakes from the first two bodies have considerably different characteristics, in terms of three-dimensional transition modes, and near- and far-wake structure. This paper focuses on elliptic cylinders, which span these two disparate cases. The Strouhal number and drag coefficient variations with Reynolds number are documented for the two-dimensional shedding regime. There are considerable differences from the standard circular cylinder curve. The different three-dimensional transition modes are also examined using Floquet stability analysis based on computed two-dimensional periodic base flows. As the cylinder aspect ratio (major to minor axis) is decreased, mode A is no longer unstable for aspect ratios below 0.25, as the wake deviates further from the standard Bénard–von Kármán state. For still smaller aspect ratios, another three-dimensional quasi-periodic mode becomes unstable, leading to a different transition scenario. Interestingly, for the 0.25 aspect ratio case, mode A restabilises above a Reynolds number of approximately 125, allowing the wake to return to a two-dimensional state, at least in the near wake. For the flat plate, three-dimensional simulations show that the shift in the Strouhal number from the two-dimensional value is gradual with Reynolds number, unlike the situation for the circular cylinder wake once mode A shedding develops. Dynamic mode decomposition is used to characterise the spatially evolving character of the wake as it undergoes transition from the primary Bénard–von Kármán-like near wake into a two-layered wake, through to a secondary Bénard–von Kármán-like wake further downstream, which in turn develops an even longer wavelength unsteadiness. It is also used to examine the differences in the two- and three-dimensional near-wake state, showing the increasing distortion of the two-dimensional rollers as the Reynolds number is increased.

Three-dimensional simulation of vortex shedding flow in the wake of a yawed circular cylinder near a plane boundary at a Reynolds number of 500

Flow past a yawed circular cylinder in the vicinity of a plane boundary is investigated numerically by solving the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations using the Petrov–Galerkin finite element method. Simulations are carried out at a constant Reynolds number of 500, two gap ratios of 0.4 and 0.8 and six cylinder yaw angles (α) ranging from 0° to 60° with an increment of 15°. The gap ratio is defined as the ratio of the gap between the cylinder and the plane boundary to the cylinder diameter. The focus of the study is on the effects of α and the gap ratio on the vortex shedding flow and the hydrodynamic forces of the cylinder. It is found that increasing the cylinder yaw angle weakens three-dimensionality of the flow. The root mean square lift coefficient decreases at α=60°, indicating that the vortex shedding is suppressed more than that at small yaw angles. The independence principle, which states that the drag and lift coefficients based on the velocity component perpendicular to the cylinder axis are independent on the yaw angle of the cylinder, applies to the flow at the gap ratio of 0.8 better than that at the gap ratio of 0.4. Because of the strong influence from the plane boundary on the flow, the force coefficients for the gap ratio of 0.4 do not follow the independence principle if the yaw angle is greater than α>30°.