Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
Vortex Shedding Past Cylinder Arrays in a Soap Film Tunnel37 views
Author
Benton, Tucker, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia
Advisors
Ward, Thomas, EN-Mech & Aero Engr Dept, University of Virginia
Abstract
This research investigates the characteristics of the wake created by both individual and pairs of circular cylinders in quasi two dimensional flow using a soap film tunnel. A soap film tunnel is a flow visualization method that uses a thin film produced by surfactant mixed with water flowing between two wires to see changes in the thickness of the film that correspond to flow behavior in greater detail than available through many other flow visualization methods. The experiments in this paper use a sodium vapor lamp that a produces a monochromatic wavelength at 589 nm so that fine changes in the thickness of the soap film tunnel can be seen using interferometry. The Reynold’s number regime ranges from 2̃50 to 2̃000 by varying the velocity of the fluid over cylinders of a diameter of 0.60 to 0.61 mm. This experiment includes varying the spacing of the cylinders from a pitch to diameter ratio of between 4 and 10 in vertical and horizontal configurations, as well as varying the incidence angle at a pitch to diameter ratio of 4 between 0◦ and 90◦ in 22.5◦ increments.
Benton, Tucker. Vortex Shedding Past Cylinder Arrays in a Soap Film Tunnel. University of Virginia, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - School of Engineering and Applied Science, MS (Master of Science), 2026-04-22, https://doi.org/10.18130/shc5-nh41.
