The interaction between a pair of circular cylinders normal to a stream

TLDR

The study investigates the interaction of flows around two circular cylinders positioned normal to the free stream as they approach each other. The authors use hot‑wire correlation measurements to analyze how mutual interference affects vortex street formation between the cylinders. Measurements reveal a mean repulsive force between the cylinders, an instability when the gap is between one diameter and 0.1 diameter, and a doubling of spanwise correlation length as the cylinders contact.

Abstract

This paper describes how the flows around two circular cylinders, displaced in a plane normal to the free stream, interact as the two bodies are brought close together. Surface pressure measurements at a Reynolds number of 2·5 × 10 4 , based on the diameter of a single cylinder, show the presence of a mean repulsive force between the cylinders. An instability of the flow was found when the gap between the cylinders was in the range between one diameter and about 0·1 of a diameter. Correlation measurements of hot-wire outputs indicate how mutual interference influences the formation of vortex streets from the two cylinders. Spanwise correlation measurements show that the correlation length doubles as the cylinders are brought into contact.