Pressure distributions on circular cylinders at critical Reynolds numbers

Abstract

Measurements have been made of the mean and fluctuating pressure distributions on long circular cylinders, having smooth and rough surfaces, at Reynolds numbers of 1·11 × 105 and 2·35 × 105 in both uniform and turbulent streams. The presence of free-stream turbulence a t these Reynolds numbers was found to suppress coherent vortex shedding on the smooth cylinder and give rise to a complex pressure field in which the mean pressure distribution was almost independent of Reynolds number over the small range of Reynolds numbers tested. The pressure distributions on the rough cylinder were found to be completely different in uniform and turbulent streams; the presence of turbulence gave rise to an increase in the level of vortex shedding energy, and produced mean pressure distributions similar to those obtained on smooth cylinders at Reynolds numbers of the order of 107.