Study of Flow past a Circular Cylinder by an Inviscid Model

Abstract

Two-dimensional vortex shedding behind a circular cylinder is simulated by a point vortex array separating from the boundary layer. The flow round the body is impulsively started from rest. The boundary layer is divided into partitions and each of them is replaced by a point vortex with the same circulation as the corresponding partition. This point vortex array separates from the surface of the cylinder, forming Kármán’s type wake. The calculated drag coefficients have a peak initially and decrease gradually to the value of about 0.6 and begin to oscillate around the value between 0.6 and 0.8. The lift also begins to oscillate more clearly than the drag. The results are in good agreement with those obtained by much more elaborate finite-difference methods.