ON THE INSTABILITY OF WAKES BEHIND STATIONARY CIRCULAR CYLINDERS

The study on the formation of vortex streets behind stationary circular cylinders is of substantial sense in engineering, since vortex streets play the leading role in introduction of vibration, generation of noise and wake instability, etc.. In the present paper, the Orr-Sommerfeld equation combined with measured velocity profiles is used to investigate the type of instability behind stationary cylinders, which determines the mechanism of vortex formation. The numerical calculations for Reynolds numbers of 56-140 000 imply that there is a range around the end of the dead water region in cylinder wakes where the instability belongs to the absolute type. Beyond the range, the flows show to be of the convective type. On the other hand, the flows tend to be of the convective instability when Reynolds number is below the subcritical value of forming vortex streets. All of the correspondent Strouhal numbers agree with experimental data very well. The formation of vortex streets behind stationary cylinders is proposed to be caused by an absolute instability in the near wake. There is always an absolute instability region for the Reynolds numbers from 56-140,000. Further, the experimental manipulation of vortex streets according to the stability analysis mentioned above is proved to be very effective.

Experimental investigation on coherent structures at early stage of boundary layer bypass transition induced by wake impingement

The early stage of a boundary layer bypass transition induced by the direct impingement of a circular cylinder wake is experimentally investigated in water tunnel,with the primary interest in both the evolution of coherent structures and their effects on the disturbance growth inside the boundary layer.It is found that spanwise vortices with small scale first form in the near-wall region around the leading-edge,which are either the residual of the wake rollers cut by the leading-edge or the high-order structures induced by the wake rollers.The formation of these spanwise vortices leads to the first rapid disturbance growth inside the boundary layer.On the other hand,streamwise vortices,which result from the impingement of longitudinal braids onto the leading-edge,are also observed inside the boundary layer.They lead to the three dimensional destabilization and the subsequent dispersion of spanwise vortices,and soon become the most dominant coherent structures inside the transitional boundary layer.It is suggested that the formation and evolution of these streamwise vortices contribute to the secondary disturbance growth stage and thus promote the completion of the transition process.The difference between the present transition scenario triggered by direct wake impingement and that by indirect wake-vortex inducement is further discussed.