Calculation of the Mean Flow Past Circular Cylinders by Viscous-Inviscid Interaction

Abstract

A method for the calculation of the mean flow past smooth circular cylinders is presented and evaluated. It utilizes an iterative procedure that couples a boundary-layer calculation method, by which the location of separation and the displacement thickness are predicted, and a new two-parameter irrotational-flow model, which predicts the pressure distribution. The displacement effect of the boundary layer is explicitly taken into account in the irrotational-flow model. The location of separation, drag coefficient, and pressure-distribution parameters are predicted at Reynolds numbers as high as 108 . The results are compared with experiments in the subcritical and the supercritical flow regimes and with empirically developed design criteria for cylindrical structures at high Reynolds numbers.