The supersonic and low-speed flows past circular cylinders of finite length supported at one end

Abstract

The flow past circular cylinders of finite length, supported at one end and lying with their axes perpendicular to a uniform stream, has been investigated in a supersonic stream at Mach number 1.96 and also in a low-speed stream. In both stream it was found that the flow past the cylinders could be divided into three regions: (a) a central region, (b) that near the free end of the cylinder, and (c) that near the supported end. The locations of the second and third regions were found to be almost independent of the cylinder length-to-diameter ratio, provided that this exceeded 4, while the flow within and the extent of the first region were dependent on this ratio. Form-drag coefficients determined in the central region in the supersonic flow were in close agreement with the values determined at the same Mach number by other workers. In the low-speed flow the local form-drag coefficients were dependent on length-to-diameter ratio and were always less than that of an infinite-length cylinder at the same Reynolds number.