Characterization of Laminar Flow Past Cylinder Pairs

Here we focus on the solid-fluid interaction of axisymmetric flow past cylinder pairs. The purpose of this presentation is to study the wake flow for cylinder pairs while varying the spacing and angle between them. The solid-fluid interaction as well as the vortex generation modes, shedding frequencies and downstream vortex street characteristics will be measured for cylinders with center to pitch ratios between 4 and 12 and 30-degree increments. These experiments are conducted using a soap film tunnel, which creates a thin-water film, allowing approximate 2D vortex generation and evolution to be captured with a high-speed camera. The fluid-film velocity is O(0.5-2.0 m/s) and the axisymmetric cylinders range between 0.5 and 0.7 mm in diameter (200< Re < 1400). These will be compared to the vortex shedding characteristics of flow around a single cylinder with the same characteristics and fluid parameters.