Flow Over Cylinder

The flow around an infinite cylinder is frequently found in literature as validation case for numerical models. After certain Reynolds number this flow is known to exhibit the Von Kármán vortex street, a repeating pattern of swirling vortices which are shed from alternating sides of the object as illustrated below:

This case is frequently used as validation for numerical models since its flow velocity profile for certain Reynolds numbers was well-estabilished in literature through experiments. The Reynolds number in this case is defined as:

(1)\[\mathrm{Re}=\frac{U_{\infty}d}{\nu}\]

Experimental results of the averages and standard deviation of longitudinal and transversal velocity are found in Parnaudeau et al.[1] for a Reynolds number \(\mathrm{Re}=3,900\).

[1]

Philippe Parnaudeau, Johan Carlier, Dominique Heitz, and Eric Lamballais. Experimental and numerical studies of the flow over a circular cylinder at reynolds number 3900. Physics of fluids, 2008.