Aerodynamic Behavior of Cylindrical Shell

Abstract

Wind‐induced dynamic behavior of a silo‐like, thin circular cylindrical shell is studied to establish a rational analytical method. The ovalling oscillations are measured with elastic cylinders in a wind tunnel. It is shown that the ovalling characteristics in a smooth flow are quite different from those observed in a turbulent flow. Measurements of the time‐space correlations of the pressure fluctuations reveal that the pressure field on the cylinder surface has a convective nature in the smooth flow, while it is considerably random in the turbulent flow. On the basis of the expermental results, the dynamic response of elastic cylinders is analyzed by using a statistical method. As for the overall trend, the predicted results agree well with the experimental observations. Furthermore, the analytical results suggest that the dynamic response is strongly affected by the convection velocity of the pressure field; this is also consistent with the experimental results.