Control of flows around a circular cylinder: suppression of oscillatory lift force

Abstract

The flow past a circular cylinder under continuous and pulsed electromagnetic forces (or the Lorentz force) is investigated. The Lorentz force is applied locally on the cylinder surface in the region of 70–130° from the stagnation point along the cylinder circumference in both upper and lower surfaces. The experiment is conducted to obtain the force measurement and the visualization of the flow around the circular cylinder on which a circumferential Lorentz force tangential to the cylinder surface is applied. It was found that both continuous and pulsed Lorentz forces have a significant effect on the flow behaviors around and behind the cylinder as well as on the drag and lift forces acting on the cylinder. Natural seawater is used for the working fluid and the induction effect can be neglected due to the low flow speed and the Lorentz force is found to be linearly proportional to the applied magnetic field and electric current strength within the condition of the present investigation.