Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
DOI 10.1007/s00348-009-0791-6
RESEARCH ARTICLE
An experimental investigation into the effect of vortex generators
on the near-wake flow of a circular cylinder
Uğur Oral Ünal • Mehmet Atlar
Received: 23 January 2009 / Revised: 19 November 2009 / Accepted: 20 November 2009 / Published online: 10 December 2009
Ó Springer-Verlag 2009
Abstract The effect of the streamwise vortex generators
on the near-wake flow structure of a circular cylinder was
experimentally investigated. Digital particle image veloc-
imetry (DPIV) measurements were performed in a large
circulating water tunnel facility at a Reynolds number of
41,300 where the flow around a bare cylinder was expected
to be at the sub-critical flow state. In order to capture
various flow properties and to provide a detailed wake flow
topology, the DPIV images were analysed with three
different but complementary flow field decomposition
techniques which are Reynolds averaging, phase averaging
and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). The effect of
the vortex generators was clearly demonstrated both in
qualitative and in quantitative manner. Various topological
features such as vorticity and stress distribution of the flow
fields as well as many other key flow characteristics
including the length scales and the Strouhal number were
discussed in the study. To the best of the authors’ knowl-
edge, the study presents the first DPIV visualization of the
near-wake flow of a circular cylinder fitted with the vortex
generators in the open literature.
U. O. Ünal (&)
Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering,
Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
e-mail: ounal@itu.edu.tr
URL: www.gidb.itu.edu.tr
M. Atlar
School of Marine Science and Technology,
Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
e-mail: mehmet.atlar@ncl.ac.uk
URL: www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/
1 Introduction
Because of its geometrical simplicity, the circular cylinder
is one of the most commonly used structures in many
engineering applications which are subjected to flow
motion (e.g. chimneys, towers, cables, bridge supports,
offshore structures). In spite of the simple geometry, flow
around a circular cylinder is an extremely complex phe-
nomenon that is highly dependent on the flow regime.
Therefore, the investigation of this flow field has been one
of the most interesting research topics occupying many
aero- and hydrodynamic researchers during the last cen-
tury. Amongst those, Coutanceau and Bouard (1977),
Williamson (1996), Basu (1985) and Norberg (2003) pre-
sented major review studies on the properties of this most
interesting flow. Zdravkovich (1997) also presented an
excellent review of the topic covering whole range of the
flow regimes while Zdravkovich (1990) and (1997) pro-
vided comprehensive reviews for the detailed classification
of various flow regimes.
It is a well known fact that boundary layer separation
behind bluff bodies, including circular cylinders, results in
excess energy losses as well as other flow induced prob-
lems. In these situations, it is possible to control the flow
separation using various active or passive techniques
(Gad-el-Hak and Bushnell 1991). One of the most effective
techniques for preventing or retarding the flow separation
is the use of passive vortex generators which can stimulate
macro-vortical motions confined in the boundary layer and
its close surroundings, hence, providing momentum
enhancement in the vicinity of a wall. Simple geometrical
properties of the passive vortex generators can provide
relatively practical and cost effective solutions to complex
flow separation phenomena. Hence, vortex generators are
commonly used as flow control devices, especially in
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aerodynamic applications (Lin 2002). In addition, the
effect of the different shapes of vortex generators on the
separation delay has been widely studied for various
geometries such as aerofoil, backward-facing step and flat
plate in the open literature. Lin et al. (1989, 1990), Wendt
et al. (1993) and Yao et al. (2002) in particular give rep-
resentative studies of this continuing research with an
emphasis on effective energy savings whilst Lin (1999) and
(2002) give comprehensive studies focusing on the sub-
boundary layer vortex generators.
Whilst there are a large number of studies exploring the
subject of flow around circular cylinders and that of the
vortex generators separately, there are only a limited
number of studies investigating these two subjects in
combination. Amongst these studies, Igarashi (1985)
examined the effect of ‘saw-blade’-type roughness devices
on the flow around a circular cylinder over a Reynolds
number (Re) range of 8.7 9 103 \ Re \ 6.37 9 104. In his
study, Igarashi called these devices ‘vortex generators’. He
positioned them at various locations around a cylinder and
made a classification of the resulting flow based on a
‘‘roughness Reynolds number’’ which was dependent upon
the height of the devices, their locations around the cyl-
inder and the flow velocity at the outer boundary layer. In a
similar study, Igarashi and Iida (1988) investigated the
effect of differing vortex generator height on the flow and
heat transfer around a circular cylinder in a Reynolds
number range of 1.3 9 103 \ Re \ 5.2 9 104. Although
the name ‘vortex generator’ was used by the previous
authors, their proposed devices do not produce streamwise
(well-defined) vortices, as typical conventional vortex
generators do, but rather create waviness in the boundary
layer which causes a transition to turbulence.
Joubert and Hoffman (1962) conducted an experimental
study to investigate the effect of the vortex generators on
the drag of a circular cylinder. The vortex generators were
placed on the cylinder at various angular positions relative
to the first stagnation line. Significant drag reduction at
Re = 1.3 9 105 was reported for all the angular positions
varying from 10° to 70°, with an optimum position at 50°.
A maximum drag reduction of 71% was achieved with the
vortex generators at Re = 1.7 9 105 which was the
beginning of the drag crisis in this study. The vortex gen-
erators lost their effectiveness after Re = 3 9 105 which
presumably corresponds to ‘‘single bubble’’ regime of the
‘‘transition-in-boundary-layers’’ state (Zdravkovich 1997).
This extremely sensitive flow regime displays an asym-
metric separation bubble on one side of the cylinder, which
causes a discontinuous fall of the drag. Joubert and
Hoffman (1962) presented limited information on the
measurements, and their study did not include the geo-
metrical properties of the vortex generators used or the
pictorial details of the wake flow. The only information
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Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
given about the properties of the wake pattern was that it
became narrower at the lower drag values. In a subsequent
study, Johnson and Joubert (1969) investigated the effect of
the vortex generators on the heat transfer properties of a
circular cylinder, as well as the drag, in the range
5 9 104 \ Re \ 4 9 105. Similar to the previous study, a
single vortex generator configuration was used in the
investigation while its angular position relative to the first
stagnation line was varied. Increasing the angular positions
up to 60° resulted in an increasing effect of the vortex
generators on the drag up to Re = 105 where the drag crisis
was starting. Significant drag reduction was achieved for
all cases up to Re = 3 9 105 including the ones with
vortex generators fitted at 70° and 80°. As a quantified
example, the vortex generators at an angular position of
70° provided a *22% drag reduction compared to the bare
cylinder case for Re = 45,000, which is similar to the
Reynolds number used in the present study. In their
experiments, Johnson and Joubert visualized the flow pat-
tern on the cylinder surface using an oil-film technique and
noted that the vortex generators caused a wavy separation
line. The study, however, did not include any information
on the topological feature of the near-wake flow.
The above review highlights the lack of experimental
investigations into the effect of vortex generators applied to
circular cylinders. The studies cited concentrated on the
drag and heat transfer performance, without any detailed
information on how the wake flow structure was affected
by these devices using the state-of-the-art flow measure-
ment techniques. Such information is not only essential for
understanding the physics of the flow phenomena involving
vortex generators but also important for the provision of
support for accurate numerical modelling of these flow
control devices. In order to address at this shortcoming, a
recent postgraduate study by the Principal Author (Ünal
2007) investigated the effect of the vortex generators on the
flow around a circular cylinder using experimental and
computational methods. In this study, conventional flat
plate-type vortex generators of rectangular cross section
were fitted longitudinally on a circular cylinder, which was
vertically oriented across the flow. A set of physical model
tests were conducted in a large circulating water tunnel to
capture the detailed near-wake flow structures using the
digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) technique. This
information supported the unsteady RANS-based numeri-
cal modelling which offered further analysis of the com-
plex flow field under the effect of the vortex generators.
This paper is based on the experimental part of the
above research (Ünal 2007). The Reynolds number con-
sidered throughout these experiments was Re = 41,300.
According to Zdravkovich (1997)’s classification, this flow
regime corresponds to the upper part of the ‘‘transition-in-
shear-layers’’ state. The unsteadiness and vortex shedding
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079 1061

which occur in the wake field of the circular cylinder were Top view of the cylinder
investigated using a two-dimensional DPIV which is a with VG

state-of-the-art flow measurement system to determine the Side view of VG Y

5
general flow topology including the vorticity structure and l= 3.2 =3
R
Flow direction α
stress fields. The experiments were conducted at the

h= 1.6
α
X
(0;0)
Emerson Cavitation Tunnel at the University of Newcastle,
UK. Taking advantage of the application of different
powerful flow decomposition techniques, many aspects of Front view of VG
the near-wake flow of the cylinder have been clearly s= 6.4 6.4

t= 0.2
demonstrated and discussed. To the authors’ knowledge,

1.6
this study presents the first DPIV visualization of the near-
wake flow of a circular cylinder in the presence of vortex
generators in the open literature.
Fig. 1 Two-dimensional schematical view of the vortex generators
(dimensions are in mm)
2 Experimental set-up

2.1 The circulating water tunnel facility

The Emerson Cavitation Tunnel is a closed circuit

depressurized tunnel, which has a measuring section of
3.10 m 9 1.22 m 9 0.81 m and a contraction ratio of
4.271:1. The tunnel contains 60 tonnes of water which is
circulated using a 300 kW DC motor driving a 1.4-m-
diameter-four-bladed impeller. The maximum attainable
water speed in the measuring section is 8 m/s. The longi-
tudinal and transverse turbulence intensity of the tunnel
between 1 and 7 m/s flow speeds are about 1.75–2.05% and
2.00–2.75%, respectively (Korkut 1999; Korkut and Atlar
2002). The large observation windows on the walls and
floor of this facility give good laser and camera access.
More detailed information about the facility can be found
in Atlar (2000) or Korkut and Atlar (2002).
2.2 The test cylinder and vortex generators
Test cylinders used in the experiments were made from
PVC tubes with a circular cross section. The tubes had a
constant outer diameter (D) of 70 mm, a height (H) of
806 mm and a wall thickness of 5 mm. Conventional,
rectangular-type vortex generators (VG) manufactured
from stainless steel flat plates with a 0.2 mm thickness (t)
were used in the experiments. In order to determine the
boundary layer thickness of the cylinder and hence the
height of the VG, three-dimensional unsteady RANS-based
computational simulations by using different two-equation
turbulence models were performed prior to the experi-
ments. According to the predicted boundary layer of the
circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of Re = 41,300, the
heights of the VG were set at 1.6 mm. The dimensions of
the VG were determined according to the conventional
rules given in Johnson and Joubert (1969) and Gad-el-Hak
and Bushnell (1991). In this way, the height/length ratio
Fig. 2 Three-dimensional representation of the cylinder with vortex
generators
(h/l) and spacing/height (s/h) ratio of the VG were 0.5 and
4.0, respectively. The general arrangement details and
dimensions of the VG can be seen in Fig. 1. The VG were
positioned with an angle of ±10° to the central symmetry
axis, which was parallel to the flow direction, as seen in
Figs. 1 and 2 in two and three-dimensional view, respec-
tively. The VG were symmetrically fitted on two rows on
either side of the cylinder in vertical orientation, and the
angular position (a) of the rows from the first stagnation
line was systematically varied (see Fig. 1). Taking into
account the distance between the VG and the separation
line, the a angles were determined at 50°, 60°, 65° and 70°
with the corresponding test cases denoted as VG50, VG60,
VG65 and VG70, respectively. The bare cylinder case in
the absence of the VG was denoted by CC throughout this
study.
2.3 DPIV specifications
The two-dimensional DPIV system used in the experiments
consisted of a pulsed laser, digital camera and synchronizer
sub-systems. A personal computer controlled the system

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1062
and to execute the required analysis to determine the
velocity field. A New Wave Gemini double-pulsed
Nd-YAG laser system was used for the illumination of the
measurement area. The system produced a 532 nm wave
length laser beam provided by energy of a 120 mJ in 10 ns
period which corresponded to a power of 12 MW. The two
independent pulsating laser generators had a maximum
frequency of 15 Hz. A high sensitivity digital camera,
‘‘DANTEC 80C60 HiSense’’, captured pairs of images
during the experiment. The camera could resolve 4,096
steps of light intensity at 12 bit data width. The camera had
a maximum resolution of 1,280 9 1,024 pixels and a
maximum operation frequency of 4.5 Hz while operating
in double-frame mode. Accordingly, both the camera and
the laser system were operated at a frequency of 4.5 Hz
during the experiments. A Nikon f:2.8 Macro objective
lens was used on the camera. Silver-coated hollow glass
spheres manufactured by Potter Industries were used as the
seeding material in the experiment. The representative size
of the particles was a nominal 14 lm in diameter.
2.4 Experiments
As stated earlier, all of the tests were performed at a
Reynolds number of 41,300 defined based on the cylinder
diameter (D) and inflow velocity (U?). The test cylinders
were vertically fixed in the midway of the measuring sec-
tion beam of the tunnel, spanning between the top and
bottom walls. The centre of the cylinders was located at
1.12 m downstream of the entrance to the measuring sec-
tion. The measurements were taken at the spanwise mid-
section of the cylinders, which corresponded to a 403 mm
distance from the bottom window of the test section.
A schematic view of the set-up and the general coordinate
system used in the experiments are shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 Schematic view of the PIV set-up and the general coordinate
system
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Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
According to this configuration, the measurement area was
under the effect of counter-rotating VG which can be seen
readily in three-dimensional view of the VG arrangement
shown in Fig. 2. Based on this arrangement, the tunnel
blockage ratio and the cylinder aspect ratio were approxi-
mately 0.057 and 11.51, respectively.
As far as the blockage and aspect ratios of the experi-
mental study are concerned, the former may be ignored—
as it is lower than 0.1—according to Zdravkovich (2003)
for the ‘‘transition-in-shear-layers’’ and upper flow
regimes. On the other hand, Norberg (1994) reports that an
aspect ratio H/D C 25 is required for independent condi-
tions at the spanwise midsection for 104 B Re B 4 9 104.
However, in the same study, for Re [ 2 9 104, very slight
variations were observed from the quasi-infinite cylinder
results in terms of the Strouhal number and base pressure
coefficient for H/D = 10. Szepessy and Bearman (1992)
measured a converging value of fluctuating lift for
H/D = 9 and 11 in lieu of the highly depended results
obtained for smaller aspect ratios at Re = 43,000. There-
fore, the aspect ratio of the present study can be considered
to be ineffective on the measurements taken at the span-
wise midsection of the cylinder. On the other hand,
according to the previous flow survey of the Emerson
Cavitation Tunnel, the tunnel boundary layer thickness
(dw) at the location of the cylinder centroid is about
20–30 mm, thus, the effect of H/dw can be ignored
(Zdravkovich 2003). However, in order to prevent the
three-dimensional wall effects from being amplified, a
practical clearance of 50 mm was provided at each end of
the cylinder between the VG and sides.
The size of the measurement area was set at
160 mm 9 128 mm. This size corresponded to an area of
2.29D 9 1.83D, where D is the cylinder diameter. The
ratio of the measurement area to CCD image area was 18.6.
The camera lens was set to the largest aperture (f:2.8) for
the maximum light permeability. In order to enhance the
sensitivity of the velocity measurement, the camera was
slightly defocused after the initial set-up.
To eliminate (or reduce) the influence of the instanta-
neous flow deviations, five sets of measurement were
performed for each test case during the experiments. At
each measurement set, 382 pairs of images (which is the
upper limit of the DPIV system buffer memory) were
recorded. This corresponded to 1,910 pairs of images for
each test run. As mentioned earlier, both the camera and
the laser system were operated at a frequency of 4.5 Hz.
Thus, the duration of the measurement for each run was
nearly 85 s. This is approximately equivalent to 130 vortex
shedding period for the bare cylinder test case (CC).
The velocity fields were obtained by a spatial cross-
correlation of the instantaneous PIV images captured with
a very small time delay (Keane and Adrian 1992). The
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079 1063

large number of arithmetic operations which is required for
the procedure was facilitated using a Fast Fourier Trans-
form (FFT; Smith 2003; Willert and Gharib 1991). In this
process, the digital image data, which had a resolution of
1,280 9 1,024 pixels, were divided to 32 9 32 pixels
interrogation areas with a 50% overlap. This yielded 79
(longitudinal) 9 63 (transverse) velocity vectors (4,977 in
total) for each measured flow field with a spatial resolution
of approximately 2 mm. The result of the spurious vector
determination procedure (Nogueira et al. 1997) was never
presented more than 50–100 bad vectors which were about
a 1–2% of the total vector quantity.
In order to check the basic flow properties of the tunnel,
two sets of preliminary measurements were taken in the
absence of the test cylinder by capturing 382 pairs of
images in each measurement set for the tunnel flow field.
The measured free stream velocity (U?) of 0.588 m/s,
which corresponds to Re = 41,300, showed slight varia-
tions (*1%) around the global mean and the tunnel had a
negligible cross-flow, around 0.5%. The measured free
stream turbulence intensity was found to be approximately
1.73% which was in a good agreement with Korkut and
Atlar (2002). The integral length scale of the free stream,
which is a highly influential parameter for the flow around
a bluff body, was calculated as 0.016 m. This length cor-
responded to 0.22D in respect of the cylinder diameter.
It should be noted here that, as described earlier in
details, the spanwise midsection of the cylinder, where the
measurements were performed, was under the effect of the
counter-rotating pairs of the VG. Since a symmetrical VG
configuration with respect to the spanwise midsection was
adopted in this study, which can be seen in Figs. 1 and 2,
the wake structures would show variations at other sections
than the measurement plane.
The uncertainty analyses of the tests were performed
according to the procedures and formulae given in Bene-
dict and Gould (1996) as described in full details by Ünal
(2007). The uncertainties in time-averaged streamwise and
transverse velocities were estimated to be ±0.18 and
order to obtain a better understanding of the unsteady flow
phenomena and to present a detailed topology, the phase-
averaging technique, which allows for decomposition of
the coherent and random motions, is also required. On the
other hand, better extraction of a finer-scale random con-
tribution can be provided effectively by the time averaging
of the different components calculated by using POD
technique which is an energy-based flow decomposition
method.
3.1 Reynolds-averaged flow fields
3.1.1 Method description
From the point of view of the Reynolds averaging, the flow
can be considered as a combination of a global mean (time-
averaged) velocity component, U ~ , and a fluctuating

~
velocity component, U (Tennekes and Lumley 1972). By
~ , can be represented
definition, the total velocity variable, U
as:
~ ðx
U ~ ðx
~; tÞ ¼ U ~  ðx
~Þ þ U ~; tÞ ð1Þ
where ~x and t denote the spatial coordinate vector and the
time, respectively. It should be noted that if the flow under
consideration is unsteady and periodical, as in the present
~  ) includes the contribution of
study, the fluctuating part (U
both the periodic (organized, coherent) motion and the
random motion of the flow.
In the Reynolds averaging analysis, global mean values
were calculated by the inclusion of 1910 pairs of PIV
images. In Fig. 4, the mean streamlines are shown for the
bare cylinder (CC) case. As expected, the Reynolds aver-
aging procedure sweeps out the alternating vortex passage,
and hence the result was composed of two vortices sym-
metrically taken place on either side of the wake centreline.
0.8
0.6

±2.2% for CC and ±0.11 and ±1.78% for VG70, 0.4

respectively.
0.2
Y/D

0
3 Analyses and discussion
-0.2

In this section, the experimental measurements are ana- -0.4

lysed and discussed based on three complementary flow
-0.6
decomposition techniques: Reynolds averaging, phase
averaging and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). -0.8
This procedure was adopted because whilst the classical
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6
Reynolds averaging technique based on global time aver-
X/D
aging of all flow fields provides valuable data, it does not
help to capture the effect of the unsteadiness of the flow. In Fig. 4 Mean streamlines for the bare cylinder case (CC)

123
1064 Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079

The short and thick wake structure was an expected 0.8

geometrical feature for this flow regime as highlighted in
0.6
Zdravkovich (1997).
0.4
3.1.2 Critical values along the wake centreline
0.2

Y/D
The evaluation of the non-dimensional recirculation bub- 0
ble length, lc/D, which is one of the most critical param-
-0.2
eters of the wake flow along centreline, gave a value of
1.39 for the CC case. This is within an approximate ±1% -0.4

accuracy which is valid for all length scale measurements.

-0.6
The compilation of Noca et al. (1998) shows that the
recirculation bubble length steadily decreases from -0.8

Re = 1,500 up to approximately 15,000 and presents slight 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6
variation around 1.4 thereafter. According to Zdravkovich X/D
(1997), from about Re = 105 recirculation bubble length
increases with increasing Reynolds number. Djeridi et al. Fig. 5 Mean streamlines for the VG70 test case
(2004) reported a value of 1.51 at Re = 1.4 9 105 mea-
sured using DPIV with a similar free stream turbulence Table 1 Characteristic values along the wake centreline
intensity of 1.6% to that of the present study (1.73%).    
lu/D lc/D lf/D URMS VRMS
Accordingly, the results from the current study may be U1 max U1 max

considered as in good agreement with the literature. CC 0.89 1.39 1.40 0.35 0.69
Another critical length scale, non-dimensional vortex for- VG50 1.09 1.58 1.66 0.28 0.52
mation length, lf/D, is perhaps the most cited flow VG60 1.18 1.65 1.69 0.28 0.50
parameter in both computational and experimental studies
VG65 1.15 1.69 1.72 0.27 0.46
in the literature since it is directly related to the forces on
VG70 1.29 1.85 2.03 0.24 0.40
the cylinder and the Strouhal number. The distance
between the cylinder centroid and the location of the
maximum root-mean-square (RMS) streamwise velocity The mean streamlines for the test case VG70 are shown
fluctuation along the wake centreline was used as the in Fig. 5. The difference in the streamlines compared to
measure of vortex formation length in the present study, by the bare cylinder case (see Fig. 4) was a clear demon-
following e.g. Griffin and Votaw (1972) while many other stration of the qualitative effect of the VG in the wake
definitions are also mentioned in the literature, e.g. Bloor region (vortex formation zone) of the cylinder. The
and Gerrard (1966), Anagnostopoulos (1997). The mea- reverse flow region lengthened and became more slender
sured non-dimensional value of this length scale for CC, with a decreasing wake width. The comparative results
lf/D = 1.40, corresponds to a point slightly downstream of from the measured data along the wake centreline are
the mean wake closure point. According to the literature summarized in Table 1. From the table, it is clear that
(e.g. Norberg 1998), vortex formation length is a very there are significant increases in the recirculation bubble
close value to the recirculation bubble length while the length, lc/D, with the increase in the VG position angles.
latter is also occasionally used as a measure of the former. Similarly, although the disparity of the shortening at VG65
Peltzer and Rooney (1985) reported slightly oscillating lf/D was unclear, the point of the minimum streamwise
values around 1.32 in the range of 104 B Re B 1.6 9 105 velocity along the wake axis was moving constantly in the
which is in good agreement with the present study. direction of the X axis with increasing position angles. It
Another characteristic length scale, which can be obtained should be noted also that the effect was less significant for
from the global mean streamwise velocities along the wake the cases VG50, VG60 and VG65. The increase in lc/D
centreline, is lu/D which is the non-dimensional distance between the test case CC and VG60 was about 21% while
from the cylinder centroid to the location of the minimum at VG70, lc/D and lu/D showed an increase of around 33
streamwise velocities along the wake centreline. The and 45%, respectively. In addition, the lf/D values
measured value of lu/D was 0.87 in the present study for increased in accordance with the recirculation bubble
CC. Norberg (1998) reports decreasing values of lu/D from length as the locations of the VG approached the separa-
1.75 to 1.04 with increasing Reynolds number in the range tion line. The vortex formation length was 44% shifted
of 1,500 B Re B 10,000, and this trend also appears to be downstream at VG70 with respect to the bare cylinder
conserved in the present study. case. In all cases, the highest value of the streamwise

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Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
0.4
0.3
URMS / U∞ 0.2
CC
0.1
VG50
VG60
VG65
Y/D=0 VG70
0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
X/D
Fig. 6 Non-dimensional RMS streamwise (left) and transverse velocity (right) profiles along the wake centreline
RMS velocity always occurred slightly downstream of the
wake closure point. Moreover, the difference between two
length scales increases with increasing values of the VG
position angles. This suggested that the form of the
growing vortex structure was more elongated and aligned
with the wake centreline so that a specific streamwise
distance occurred between the core of the vortex and the
point that it crosses on the wake centreline.
The RMS velocity fluctuations in X and Y directions
along the wake centreline for all test cases are given in
Fig. 6. In both groups of curves, the locations of the peaks
are not well defined as in Szepessy and Bearman (1992).
Both show a significant decrease as a result of the effect of
the VG. This also indicates that the VG significantly sup-
presses the fluctuating motion of the flow. The maximum
values obtained from the curves are also displayed in
Table 1. The most pronounced jump occurred at VG70
where the VG were nearest to the separation line and the
maximum values for both components decreased by 10 and
12% in respect to VG65; a similar situation also occurred
for the length scales. This suggested that even if the VG
were far away from the separation line they can still
influence the boundary layer flow and as a result of this,
slight differences may be identified between cases VG50,
VG60 and VG65. However, at VG70, the separation line
was located on the coverage area of the VG so that the
influence on the wake zone became considerable. On the
other hand, it should be noted that the VG had a stronger
effect on the transverse fluctuations and the maximum
streamwise and transverse RMS velocities decreased by 30
and 41%, respectively (VG70 case).
Basu (1985) reported that the transition to turbulence in
the boundary layer can reach to the separation point (or
line) as a result of the increase in the Reynolds number.
Further increase in the Reynolds number starts the transi-
tion to turbulence in the boundary layer. The specific flow
regime that indicated the transition to turbulence in the
boundary layer was distinguished with a slow movement of
1065
0.8
0.6
VRMS / U∞
0.4
CC
0.2
VG50
VG60
VG65
Y/D=0 VG70
3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
X/D
the separation point (or line) in the streamwise direction. In
the same regime, it was possible to observe an increase in
the vortex formation length as well. The results obtained
from the Table 1; Figs. 3 and 4 exhibit a similarity with
this event. The increase in the vortex formation length,
thus, designates a delay of the separation.
3.1.3 Vorticity and circulation
The spatial derivation of the mean velocity components
allows the calculation of the mean vorticity field as
follows:
oV oU
fz ¼  ð2Þ
ox oy
The vorticity contours for both cases are obtained from
Eq. 2, made non-dimensional using the inflow velocity
and cylinder diameter, and are shown in Fig. 7. The
symmetrical and opposite valued structure of the vorticity
field and the spread of the shear layer along the X direction
can be observed in the same figure. As the layer becomes
thicker, the intensity of the vorticity decreases
considerably. At VG70, the non-dimensional vorticity
values, which are [4 or 5 (fz  D=U1 C 4 or 5), spread
to a narrower but much more extended region. With
increasing values of the position angles, the vorticity was
maintained for a longer time and began to diffuse further
away from the cylinder. Based on Fig. 7, it may be possible
to associate the elongation of the vortex formation length
with the quantity of the circulation in the shear layers. The
circulation starts to be generated from the first stagnation
line and spreads to the near-wake from the separation line.
Table 2 displays the global mean values of the circulation
which were calculated from the integration of the non-
dimensional vorticity values throughout the flow field using
the Stokes Theorem. Each column of this table presents the
results based on different criteria for the value of the non-
dimensional vorticity. It can be seen in Table 2 that the
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1066 Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079

0.5 0.5
8.0
5.3
2.7
Y/D

Y/D
0 0.0 0
-2.7
-5.3
-8.0
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

Fig. 7 CC (left) and VG70 (right) test cases, contours of time-averaged non-dimensional vorticity fz D=U1 (the plots are sharing the contour
legend)

Table 2 Global mean circulation (Y/D [ 0) The above discussion suggested that the shear layers
Test case C
  C
  C
  were more concentrated and resistant for the cases with
fz D fz D fz D
U1 [ 0 U1 [ 1 U1 [ 2
VG. Since the vortex formation occurs at the region where
the shear layer begins to diffuse with the effect of the
CC 2.27 1.71 1.17 opposite shear layer, a more elongated form of the vortex
VG50 2.47 2.06 1.64 formation region is expectable.
VG60 2.53 2.13 1.76
VG65 2.56 2.19 1.81 3.1.4 Drag estimation
VG70 2.71 2.41 1.98
Based on the time-averaged streamwise velocity profiles, it
  was possible to make an approximate estimation of the mean
fz D
Table 3 Thickness of the shear layers U1 [ 4 drag coefficient in accordance with the conservation of the
Test case X/D = 0.6 X/D = 0.8 X/D = 1.0 X/D = 1.5 momentum principle. However, a direct calculation from
the momentum thickness values can lead to under predic-
CC 0.17 0.17 – –
tions of the drag coefficients since this procedure does not
VG50 0.16 0.17 0.19 –
take into account the existent pressure deficit in the near
VG60 0.16 0.17 0.19 –
wake, which can be neglected in the far wake. According to
VG65 0.16 0.18 0.21 – Jones (from Schlichting 1960), the mean drag coefficient
VG70 0.16 0.16 0.18 0.11 can be evaluated from the following integral expression at a
cross section located downstream of the obstacle:
0 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1
Z
U A y
2
circulation in the measurement area increased by a U @ DP
cD ¼ 2 1 2
þ 2
d ð3Þ
maximum of 20% due to the effect of the VG, for U1 1=2 q U1 U1 D
fz  D=U1 [ 0. By taking into account the non-
dimensional vorticity value [2, this increase reached In this formula, DP represents the difference between
70%. In order to appreciate the spreading of the high the time-averaged pressure values measured along a cross
shear stress region, one can observe the variation of the section and the pressure at infinity. Since the pressure was
thickness (non-dimensionalized with D) of the shear layers not measured in the experiments, this information was
with a non-dimensional vorticity value greater than that in obtained from the results of three-dimensional computer
e.g. 4, presented in Table 3. In the presence of the VG simulations of Ünal (2007). Table 4 presents the calculated
cases, the vortices form further away from the cylinder and mean drag coefficients for all the test cases at X/D = 2.6
as a result of this, the thickness of the shear layers was which was the downstream boundary of the measurement
diminished at the cross section X/D = 0.6. However, at the area. The value estimated for CC case was in close
cross section X/D = 1.0, whilst the bare cylinder case (CC) agreement with the literature for the current flow regime
did not present any vorticity level higher than 4, the shear (e.g. Basu 1985). As seen from the table, the trend was
layer thickness at the other cases was even higher than that clear and indicated a reduction in drag with increased
of CC at X/D = 0.6. Furthermore, at X/D = 1.5, the shear position angles of the VG. For example, in the case of
layers were apparent only for VG70 case. VG70, a decrease by about 28% in the drag value was

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Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
Table 4 Estimated mean drag
Test case cD
coefficients
CC 1.14
VG50 0.89
VG60 0.85
VG65 0.84
VG70 0.82
estimated. One should note here that the drag estimations
were performed assuming a homogenous wake structure
along the spanwise direction, which actually differs due to
the wavy separation lines along the span.
It is known that the drag coefficient is most affected
by the pressure distribution following the separation
(Zdravkovich 1997). This was particularly relevant for the
present flow regime. The area between the first stagnation
line and the separation line has a small effect on the drag.
As the elongation of the formation length causes the
vortices to form further away from the cylinder, the low
pressure zone moves away from the cylinder as well.
Accordingly, a severe decrease in the drag coefficient may
be experienced. Similar characteristics are always detected
on the transition between the flow regimes, and if the
formation length increases, then the drag value decreases,
or vice versa.
Thus, it is possible to conclude that the drag of the
cylinder decreased due to the effect of the VG and the
effect became more pronounced as the position angles were
increased.
3.1.5 Strouhal number
It is expected that the VG have an effect on the nominal
frequency of the wake zone and hence on the Strouhal
number. The frequency of the wake zone depends upon the
formation and the shedding periods of the vortices. The
mechanism that determines the frequency is complex.
Some of the factors that affect the nominal frequency of the
wake zone are the entrainment in the shear layer and hence
the intensity of the turbulence in it, the location of the
formation of the shear layer, the thickness of the shear
layer and the circulation spreading from the separation line.
Occasionally, as a result of the mutual cancellation of the
opposite effects, the value of the frequency may minimally
change or may not change at all. Gerrard (1966) explained
this mechanism in detail for the ‘‘transition-in-shear-lay-
ers’’ flow state where the formation zone shows a tendency
to shorten rapidly but the associated Strouhal number
remains approximately constant. This mechanism was
validated by Zdravkovich (1997) with the exception of
some minor differences.
1067
Table 5 Variation of the Strouhal number
Test case Strouhal number Increase (%) Relative increase (%)
CC 0.186 – –
VG50 0.262 *41 *41
VG60 0.250 *34 *-5
VG65 0.243 *31 *-3
VG70 0.226 *22 *-7
The Strouhal number was determined according to the
velocity fluctuations in the near-wake field. Spectral anal-
ysis, which was performed for several spatial locations
1.0 \ X/D \ 2.2, -0.5 \ Y/D \ 0.5, pinpointed a near
constant value for each selected location. The value of
0.186 obtained for CC was in very good agreement with
Norberg (2003) who reported an emprical function giving a
value around 0.185 for the present Reynolds number.
In Table 5, the variation of the Strouhal number and its
relative differences between the test cases are given. The
Strouhal number exhibited a sharp increase (*41%) after
which it gradually declined. This non-monotonous behav-
iour did not support the constant lengthening feature of the
wake zone. This suggested that most of the frequency
determining mechanisms, as Gerrard (1966) explained,
operate in common. At the VG50 case, the shear layer
became more concentrated indicating that the diffusion had
decreased. With the decrease in the diffusion, the shear
layer, located on the opposite side of the growing vortex,
was easily able to penetrate into the growing vortex
(Gerrard 1966). In addition, the distance between two shear
layers diminished. As a result of these two effects, the
Strouhal number showed a sudden increase. For the other
test cases, the diffusion continued to decrease and two
shear layers moved closer. However, the dampening of the
fluctuation, which was clearly identified from the RMS
velocity data, may indicate the weakening of the forming
vortices. As a result, the required period for a shedding
process and for a vortex to be able to draw the negative
vorticity from the opposite side is expected to be increased.
The decrease in the Strouhal number following its sudden
increase may be explained with the common operation of
this opposite tendentious mechanism.
3.2 Phase-averaged flow fields
3.2.1 Method description
The organized and random motion in the turbulent wake of
a circular cylinder can be decomposed via conditional
averaging techniques which were used in many valuable
studies such as Cantwell and Coles (1983), Antonia et al.
(1987), Bisset et al. (1990) and Browne et al. (1986).
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1068 Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079

Providing a better understanding of the basic characteris- phase-averaging process. This implies that ns is replaced
Pn
tics of the coherent motion, phase-averaging technique can by m¼0 sm , with s0 = 0, in Eq. 5. A single vortex
be advantageous where the velocity field can be decom- shedding cycle was expressed by 16 phase angles. Since
posed into three components as follows (Hussain and the flow fields at the desired phase angles are not directly
Reynolds 1970): available from the PIV data, the required flow fields have
~ ðx ~ 0 to be reconstructed. This reconstruction was also carried
~ ðx
U ~; tÞ ¼ U ~Þ þ Ue ðx ~ ðx
~; tÞ þ U ~; tÞ ð4Þ out by the Whittaker signal reconstruction technique in the
0
~
~ , Ue and U ~ represent the mean velocity same manner by Lourenco et al. (1997).
where U
component, which depends on the spatial variables, the For the reconstruction of the flow field, the reference
statistical contribution of the organized motion and the signals were determined for each measurement set. Each
random turbulent motion, respectively. Phase-averaged velocity field was reconstructed at each constant phase by a
velocity is then defined as: FORTRAN code, and 1910 flow fields in total were
included in the computations. Since the output of the

~ ðx
 1XN 1
~ ðx phase-averaging computations composed of many compo-
U ~; tÞ ¼ lim U ~; t þ nsÞ ð5Þ
N!1 N nents and phase quantities, only the results of CC and
n¼0
VG70 cases are discussed in the present study.
where, N is the sample size and s is the signal wave period.
Both the global mean and the fluctuating periodical 3.2.2 Vorticity and circulation
components contribute to the phase-averaged velocity
which is denoted by hi in the former. Thus, one can write: In order to obtain the vorticity at constant phase, the
  0
equation below can be used:
~ ðx
U ~; tÞ ¼ U~ ðx ~ ðx
~; tÞ þ U ~; tÞ ð6Þ
ohV i ohU i
In the present study, the velocity signals were used as a h fz i ¼  ð7Þ
ox oy
phase indicator (Sung and Yoo 2001). The required
resolution of the reference signal was ensured by the where hi represents the values at constant phase while U
Whittaker (or Shannon) signal reconstruction technique and V denote streamwise and transverse velocity compo-
which provides the exact reconstruction of the original nents. It should be noted here that the term ‘‘vorticity’’ does
signal for the frequencies which are equal or lower than the not represent the forming vortices in the wake region. Q
half of the sampling frequency (Lourenco et al. 1997). The criterion of Jeong and Hussain (1995) was used to identify
location of the reference signal was selected with care. the general vortex structure. When a new saddle point was
Spectral analysis via Fast Fourier Transform was formed at the phase-averaged streamlines and a split of the
performed for various positions in the flow field to be Q contours occurred, this instant was accepted as the first
aware of turbulence and of noise associated with other phase indicating the beginning of a new vortex formation.
instabilities. To minimize the effect of the phase jitter, zero This stage is shown in Fig. 8 where the form of the Q
reference phase was assigned to each maximum of the contours along with the phase-averaged streamlines is
signal (Sung and Yoo 2001). Consequently, the time displayed for both cases (CC and VG70).
periods between two consecutive maximums were The general form of the streamlines and the vorticity
considered in lieu of a constant wave period in the contours at constant phases during one half of the shedding

0.5 0.5
Y/D

Y/D

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

Fig. 8 Q contours and streamlines at constant phase for CC (left) and VG70 (right)

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Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
cycle for both test cases are shown in Figs. 9 and 10 with p/
8 radians phase angle steps. At the second half of the
shedding cycle, the motion repeats itself and exhibits a
perfect symmetry with respect to the wake centreline for all
cases. The evolution of the half shedding period for both
cases can be examined in Fig. 11, where the vortex cir-
culations, hCi/U?D, and vortex trajectories at each phases
are shown. For this purpose, the boundaries of the vortices
were identified according to Q criterion. The generation of
vortex was triggered with the formation of a saddle point
for both cases. In Fig. 9, the interaction of two shear layers
can be observed for the bare cylinder case (CC). When the
lower part vortex becomes strong enough, spreading on a
wide area around X/D = 1, it draws the other shear layer
across the wake. Up to the 6th phase, while the saddle point
moves downstream, upper part vorticity spreads to a wider
area. At the 6th phase, the saddle disappears and the lower
part vortex, which is at its 14th phase, begins to decay as it
seen in Fig. 11. The upper side vortex, which does not
encounter any opposite-signed vorticity from the other
shear layer, rapidly grows up to the 8th phase. From
Fig. 11, it can be seen that the circulation level increases
up to this phase. At the 13th phase, the longitudinal coor-
dinate of the centre of the closed streamlines X/D = 1.3
(Y/D = 0) nearly coincides with the wake closure point. At
this stage, one can assume that the vortex formation pro-
cess was completed. Thereafter, the circulation began to
decrease rapidly and almost linearly.
A similar but more complex mechanism was observed
for the VG70 test case shown in Fig. 10 where more
elongated form of the closed streamlines is apparent. The
vertical location of the shear layers and narrowing form of
the wake region suggested a clear separation delay phe-
nomena and caused the shear layers to turn towards the
centreline. The centroids of the closed streamlines were
translated quite far away from the cylinder in comparison
with the CC while they are closer to the wake centreline.
High vorticity levels are observed on a larger streamwise
extent but their values are comparable. The vorticity area
downstream of the saddle at the first phase was more dis-
tinctive. The streamline curvature following the saddle was
more pronounced for the first few phases at VG70. Another
difference between the CC and VG70 cases is the existence
of a saddle at all phases of the formation process for the
latter. According to this property, it is likely that the cir-
culation curve never exhibits a rapid decrease. The growth
of the vortex continued until the 15th phase which was then
followed by a slight decrease in the circulation level and
shedding of the vortex. At the 16th phase, the longitudinal
coordinate of the centre of the closed streamlines X/
D = 1.85 coincided with the wake closure point. As the
same phenomenon was observed for CC, this may again
indicate the termination of the vortex formation.
1069
Accordingly, it seems likely that the formation of a vortex
spread over 16 phases for VG70. The time elapsed during
the process was compensated by the sudden shedding of
the vortex and the generation of a new saddle point. Some
studies suggest that the vortices are stronger at the end of
the vortex formation region such as Anagnostopoulos
(1997). As the vortex formation length was determined
previously as lf/D = 1.40 at the Reynolds averaging anal-
ysis, this finding was validated for the CC case in the
present study (see Fig. 11). However, the circulation curve
for VG70 indicated a stronger vortex at X/D = 1.7 which
conflicted with the vortex formation length calculated at
the Reynolds averaging section. A plausible reason for this
anomaly may be related to the geometrical form of the
vortex. The geometrical difference of the vortex between
two cases affected the point along the wake centreline
where the RMS velocity fluctuations were a maximum.
Since these velocities for VG70 did not have a well-defined
peak, as shown in Fig. 11, the discrepancy in the vortex
formation length should be considered as normal. In the
same figure, it is also observed that the sharp rise in the first
phases of the circulation curve for CC no longer existed in
the circulation curve for VG70.
In Fig. 11, the location of the vortex centroids (Y/D vs.
X/D) at each phase is also shown. The vortices initially
moved towards the centreline and then moved essentially
parallel to the wake centreline. When the vortex shedding
was finished at X/D & 1.4, the vortices begin a parallel
movement as the centroid of the closed streamline reached
the wake centreline. The centroid of the closed streamline
and the vortex was located approximately on the same
cross section at this stage. As far as the effect of the VG
was concerned, the organized trajectory structure, which
was observed in the CC test case, deteriorated in the VG70
case. The general trajectory feature of the vortex was
similar to the one at CC but the vortex never reached the
distance lf/D = 2.03 which was obtained for VG70 in the
Reynolds averaging analysis.
3.2.3 Stress fields at constant phase
In Fig. 12, comparative contours of the  periodical
  com-
ponents of the Reynolds stresses, ~U~ =U1
U 2
, V~V~ =U12
,
  2
~ ~
U V =U1 (which are the streamwise normal, transverse
normal and shear stresses, respectively), at constant phase
are shown for both CC and VG70 test cases. The phases
indicated the instants when the distance from the centre of
the cylinder to the centroid of the closed streamlines cor-
responded to the recirculation bubble length. In Fig. 12a, d,
the phase-averaged streamlines were superimposed on the
stress contours. The streamlines of the periodical compo-
nent of the velocity field at constant phase are shown at
Fig. 12c, f including the superimposed shear stress
123
1070 Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079

1 2

0.5 0.5

Y/D
Y/D 0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

3 4

0.5 0.5
Y/D

Y/D
0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

5 6

0.5 0.5
Y/D

Y/D

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

7 8

0.5 0.5
Y/D

Y/D

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6

Fig. 9 Streamlines and colour-coded non-dimensional vorticity hfz i D=U1 at constant phases for CC (with a p/8 rad step, instant 1 and 8
corresponding to phase angle 0 rad and 7p/8 rad, respectively)

123
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079 1071

1 2

0.5 0.5

Y/D

Y/D
0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D
3 4

0.5 0.5
Y/D

Y/D
0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

5 6

0.5 0.5
Y/D

Y/D

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D
7 8

0.5 0.5
Y/D
Y/D

0 0

-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6

Fig. 10 Streamlines and colour-coded non-dimensional vorticity hfz i D=U1 at constant phases for VG70 (with a p/8 rad step, instant 1 and 8
corresponding to phase angle 0 rad and 7p/8 rad, respectively)

123
1072
1.8
1.6
1.4
〈Γ〉 / U∞ D
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0 5 10
Phase
Fig. 11 Circulation curves (left) and vortex trajectories (right) for two test cases
contours. The periodical motion was a local rotation with
respect to the global mean. The streamwise normal stresses
reached a maximum value at the saddle point of the
phased-averaged streamlines and above it, at a symmetrical
location with respect to the centreline where the stream-
lines were bent towards the wake centreline for both test
cases (Fig. 12a, d). The distances of the locations of the
points, where the maximum streamwise normal stresses
occurred, were around the vortex formation lengths, as
expected. Accordingly, the distance from the cylinder
centroid to these points was increased by 33% at VG70.
Maximum stress points approached to the wake centreline
by 40%. The contours clearly demonstrate that the
streamwise periodical component of the stress was signif-
icantly decreased due to the effect of the VG. The maxi-
mum streamwise periodical stress was decreased by 75% at
this constant phase. A similar situation  was2 valid for
transverse periodical stress component V~V~ =U1 contours
(Fig. 12b, e). In both cases, the flow structure consisted of
two closed contour areas which designated the large flow
curvature in the velocity field. Accordingly, the maximum
transverse stress points were located on the wake centre-
line. The transverse stress zones were translated in the
streamwise direction while the maximum value of the
transverse stress was decreased by 70% at VG70. Shear
stress fields consist of circular shaped contour forms which
were concentrated around the wake closure point (Fig. 12c,
f). The saddle point of the stress contours coincided with
the centroid of the streamlines of the periodical motion and
that of the streamlines at constant phase for CC while it
was located slightly lower and right side for VG70. The
drastic reduction in the shear stresses can be observed
similar to the other stress components at VG70. While the
maximum non-dimensional shear stress value was 0.14 for
CC, it was reduced to 0.05 for VG70.
Figure 13 shows the comparative contours of the random
components of the Reynolds stresses hU 0 U 0 i=U1 2
, that effectively decomposes the organized and random
0 0 2 0 0 2
hV V i=U1 , hU V i=U1 at constant phase for both CC and
123
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
0.8
CC
VG70
0.6
Y/D
0.4
0.2
CC
VG70
0
15 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2
X/D
VG70 test cases. It is clear that the random stress fields
exhibited different topologies in comparison with the peri-
odical ones. Random streamwise normal fluctuations were
concentrated in the zones where the vorticity was strong for
both cases. Large values of the random normal stress were
observed with the forming vortex in CC, while such large
values were observed with the vortex which had completed
its formation for VG70. Another interesting feature for both
cases was that the random stress values were even higher
than the periodical ones. Whilst the maximum value of the
streamwise random normal stress was higher than that of the
streamwise periodical normal stress at CC, it was approxi-
mately twice the maximum value of the latter for VG70.
However, the contour values indicated that the random
motion was damped due to the effect of the VG in the VG70
test case. The location of the maximum random transverse
stresses was in the middle of the closed streamlines of the
periodical motion for the CC test case, whilst this location
was at far downstream for the VG70 test case. The maxi-
mum value of the random transverse stress was equal to the
periodical transverse stress for the VG70; however, this was
not the case for CC where the latter was greater than the
former. As far as the random shear stress field was con-
cerned, the minimum shear stress was experienced with the
vortex that formed whilst the maximum random shear stress
was experienced with the growing vortex. Since the vortex
shedding period was shorter for VG70, the extreme values
took place on a narrower area. Similar to the other stress
components, the extreme values of the shear stress showed a
decrease of up to 50% at VG70.
3.3 POD flow fields
3.3.1 Method description
Proper orthogonal decomposition is a powerful technique
fluctuating components of a turbulent velocity field based
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079 1073

a d
0.5 0.5
0.15
0.13
0.10
Y/D

Y/D
0 0.07 0
0.05
0.03
0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

b e
0.5 0.5

0.40
0.33
Y/D

Y/D
0 0 0.27
0.20
0.13
0.07
-0.5 -0.5 0.00

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

c f
0.5 0.5
0.13
0.09
0.04
Y/D

Y/D

0 0.00 0
-0.04
-0.09
-0.13
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D
  2   2   2
Fig. 12 Periodical stress contours at constant phase U~U~ =U1 , V~V~ =U1 , U~V~ =U1 , respectively from top to bottom (a, b, c are for bare
cylinder and d, e, f are for VG70, respectively. Collaterally placed plots are sharing the related contour legend)

on their energy levels. As a result of the improvement in of the instantaneous velocity fields, as represented in the
digital visualization techniques, it has become a popular following expression:
technique and has been widely used for the analysis of X
N
~ ðx
U ~ ðx
~; tÞ ¼ U ~  ðx
~Þ þ U ~ ðx
~; tÞ ¼ U ~Þ þ an ðtÞ ~
/n ðx
~Þ ð8Þ
turbulent flow, e.g. Patte-Rouland et al. (2001), Ben Chiekh
n¼1
et al. (2004), Oudheusden et al. (2005). For a detailed
mathematical background, review and analysis of the where ~ /n , an and N represent POD mode, weight
technique, the reader should refer to Sirovich (1987) and coefficient of the mode and number of the velocity fields,
Berkooz et al. (1993). It is possible to decompose an respectively, while subscript ‘‘n’’ denotes the mode of the
unsteady flow field to a mean and fluctuating component as respective flow field (Sirovich 1987). By considering the
in Eq. 1. POD decomposes the fluctuating part, U ~  ðx
~; tÞ, of common representation in Eqs. 1, 4 and 8, the fluctuating
the velocity field into further modes as much as the number component, U ~  ðx
~; tÞ, can be expressed as below.

123
1074 Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079

a d
0.5 0.5
0.17
0.14
0.11
Y/D

Y/D
0 0.09 0
0.06
0.03
0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

b e
0.5 0.5
0.25
0.21
Y/D

Y/D
0.17
0 0 0.13
0.08
0.04
0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

c f
0.5 0.5
0.08
0.05
Y/D

Y/D

0.03
0 0 0.00
-0.03
-0.05
-0.08
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

Fig. 13 Random stress contours at constant phase hU 0 U 0 i=U12

, hV 0 V 0 i=U1
2
, hU 0 V 0 i=U1
2
, respectively from top to bottom (a, b, c are for bare
cylinder and d, e, f are for VG70, respectively. Collaterally placed plots are sharing the related contour legend)

0 X N contribution of each POD mode in the fluctuation energy.

~  ðx ~
U ~; tÞ ¼ Ue ðx ~ ðx
~; tÞ þ U ~; tÞ ¼ an ðtÞ ~
/n ðx
~Þ ð9Þ The percentage energy contribution of modes can be
n¼1 calculated from the following ratio.
In Eq. 9, the POD modes with high energy levels X
N
correspond to the periodical component, U ~~ ðx
~; tÞ, of the %Energy ¼ kn = kn  100 ð11Þ
velocity field whilst the rest denotes the random one, n¼1
0
~ ðx
U ~; tÞ. ~
/n ðx
~Þ are the eigenfunctions of the two-point In the present study, the POD analysis was applied to
correlation matrix of the flow field which can be defined as: five sets of measurements covering 1910 flow fields, for
~  ðx ~  ðx each test case, using MATLAB software. The graphics and
Cij ¼ U ~i ; t Þ U ~j ; tÞ ð10Þ
numerical data were obtained using time averaging of the
Coefficients an in Eq. 9 are obtained from projection of total flow fields.
the POD modes onto instantaneous velocity fields. The Figure 14 shows the energy levels corresponding to the
eigenvalues of the correlation matrix represent the POD modes for all measurement cases tested. In order to

123
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079
35
30
Percentage of energy (%)
25
20
15
10
5
0 lected in the Table 6. According to the table, the extreme
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Modes
Fig. 14 Energy percentages corresponding to POD modes
produce the curves, the eigenmodes of the correlation
matrix were calculated. The vertical scale of Fig. 14 rep-
resents the percentage of the energy calculated according to
Eq. 11. It was clear that the first 5–6 modes, and in par-
ticular the first 2, showed a significant reaction to the
presence of the VG. It was observed that the ratios of the
first few modes, which represent the large-scaled periodical
motion, to the total fluctuation energy, decreased with the
increasing values of the VG position angles. It can be
further suggested that the VG increased the contribution of
the turbulence to the whole fluctuation, changing the bal-
ance between the large-scaled motion and the random one.
Decomposing the fluctuating motion into its components,
the first eight modes were considered to represent the large-
scaled periodical motion, U~~ ðx
~; tÞ. This selection was made
in such a way that beyond the 8th mode, the energy level
dropped to approximately 1.2% for each case. Accordingly,
the rest of the POD modes contributed 0
to the decomposi-
tion as the random component, U ~ ðx ~; tÞ.
3.3.2 Time-averaged stress fields
In Fig. 15, comparative contours of the time-averaged
periodical components of the Reynolds stresses, U~U=U ~ 1 2
, the random stress components show a significant decrease
V~V=U
~ 1 , U~V=U
2 ~ 1 , for the CC and VG70 cases are shown.
2
As distinctive from the results of the phase averaging, it can
be observed that the streamwise periodical stress compo-
nents were effective on the wake centreline and form a
saddle point around the wake closure point. For the cases
with VG (only VG70 is included in Fig. 15), the streamwise
periodical stresses were not considerable around the shear
layers (Fig. 15a, c). The high stress fields covered the zones
where the vortices were being fed by the shear layers and
reached their maximum strengths. The contours of the
transverse periodical stress form a single lobe structure
which was symmetrically located at the wake centreline
(Fig. 15b, e). The stress field at the back side of the cylinder
was absent for the VG70 case. The significant stress region
was considerably shifted downstream at VG70. The centre
1075
of the shear stress fields, which displayed a set of extreme
CC
VG50 values on either side of the wake centreline, was located
VG60 around the wake closure point (Fig. 15c, f). As a common
VG65
VG70 feature of the comparative contour plots, it was clear that
the periodical motion was dampened significantly and the
stress fields were translated further away from the cylinder
due to the effect of the VG. This validates the results found
in the earlier discussed phase-averaging process. The
characteristic values extracted from the contours are col-
14 16 18 20
values of the periodical stress components show a constant
decrease with the increasing values of the VG position
angles. In harmony with the increase of the vortex forma-
tion length, in all cases, it is possible to observe (except at
VG65 case) a downstream movement of the points of local
extreme values. The extreme values of the three compo-
nents were decreased by 61, 68 and 50%, respectively at
VG70 with respect to CC.
Figure 16 shows the comparative contours of the time-
averaged random components of the Reynolds stresses,
2 2 2
U 0 U 0 =U1 , V 0 V 0 =U1 , U 0 V 0 =U1 , for the CC and VG70 test
cases. Highly disordered nature of the random stress fields
does not allow clear identification of the peaks. Never-
theless, high levels of random fluctuations can be clearly
identified. Significant values of the streamwise normal
random stresses and shear stresses were found in the shear
layers whilst the transverse component was in the middle
of the wake region. For the streamwise component, a rel-
atively high stress zone was also located between two shear
layers around X/D = 1 for VG50, VG60 and CC test cases.
This zone gradually moved away from the cylinder at the
other cases.
Since the stress components due to the random motion
did not have smooth contour lines and an organized
structure, the maximum values and their locations could
not be clearly identified. However, it may be clearly
observed that, along with the periodical stress components,
for the test cases with VG. It should be noted that since the
measurements in the present study covered a spectrum up
to 2.25 Hz, the dampening of the random motion does not
necessarily mean that the turbulence was decreased.
The decrease in the random stress components may be
associated with the strong three-dimensionality caused by
the VG. The vortex stretching mechanism is a well-known
feature of the three-dimensional flow motions (e.g.
Davidson 2004). As a result of the vortex stretching, one
can expect a decrease in the turbulent length scales which
in turn causes the turbulent energy to be decreased in
association with the dissipation of the turbulence in the
smallest scales and hence production of heat. Gerrard
(1966) quoted that the shear layer, with increasing turbu-
lence level, has a more diffusive structure. So indeed, with
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1076 Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079

Fig. 15 Time-averaged
periodical stress contours
a d
U~U=U
~ 1 2
, V~V=U
~ 1 2
, U~V=U
~ 1 2
, 0.5 0.5
respectively from top to bottom 0.18
(a, b, c are for bare cylinder and 0.15
d, e, f are for VG70, 0.12

Y/D

Y/D
0 0.09 0
respectively. Collaterally placed
0.06
plots are sharing the related 0.03
contour legend) 0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

b e
0.5 0.5
0.40
0.33
0.27
Y/D

Y/D
0 0 0.20
0.13
0.07
0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

c f
0.5 0.5
0.12
0.08
0.04
Y/D

Y/D

0 0 0.00
-0.04
-0.08
-0.12
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

Table 6 Critical values of the time-averaged periodical stress com- wider area than the one observed in the VG70 test case.
ponents calculated with POD Thus, the fact that the diffusion was less for the cases with
Test case U~U=U
~ 1 2
V~V=U
~ 1 2
U~V=U
~ 1 2 VG can be associated with the dampening of the random
motion.
Max. (X/D; Y/D) Max. (X/D; Y/D) Min. (X/D; Y/D)
Furthermore, for the cases with VG, it can be seen from
CC 0.20 1.13; 0.41 0.42 1.52; 0 -0.13 1.33; 0.36 the presented figures and the tables that the periodical
VG50 0.14 1.33; 0.30 0.23 1.63; 0 -0.09 1.57; 0.26 stress components show a decrease and the high-stress
VG60 0.12 1.45; 0.30 0.21 2.00; 0 -0.08 1.73; 0.27 fields spread on a tighter region compared to the respective
VG65 0.10 1.42; 0.27 0.16 1.87; 0 -0.07 1.67; 0.25 data for the CC test case. Based on the phase-averaging
VG70 0.08 1.79; 0.24 0.13 2.13; 0 -0.06 1.92; 0.23 analysis results, the circulation of the vortex structure at
VG70 was decreased; accordingly, the strength of the
vortices was decreased. As mentioned earlier, the shear
an increase in the turbulence and hence of the turbulence layers were more concentrated in the cases with VG. In
viscosity, the diffusion shows an increase as well. From the addition, the layers gradually come closer along with the
identification of the vortices via Q criterion, it was found delay of the separation. Consequently, the required vor-
that the vortex forming at the CC test case spread to a much ticity or circulation, regarding the fact that the forming

123
Exp Fluids (2010) 48:1059–1079 1077

Fig. 16 Time-averaged random

stress contours U 0 U 0 =U1 2
, a d
2 2
V 0 V 0 =U1 , U 0 V 0 =U1 , 0.5 0.5
respectively, from top to bottom 0.07
(a, b, c are for bare cylinder and 0.06
d, e, f are for VG70, 0.05

Y/D

Y/D
0 0.04 0
respectively. Collaterally placed
0.02
plots are sharing the related 0.01
contour legend) 0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

b e
0.5 0.5
0.07
0.06
0.05
Y/D

Y/D
0 0.04 0
0.02
0.01
0.00
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

c f
0.5 0.5
0.03
0.02
0.01
Y/D

Y/D

0 0.00 0
-0.01
-0.02
-0.03
-0.5 -0.5

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

X/D X/D

vortex is entrained by the other shear layer, should be
decreased. Since the entraining layer contains concentrated
opposite sign of vorticity, this would reduce the strength of
the forming vortex as this can be seen in Fig. 11. Thus,
weaker vortices are formed and accordingly the stresses
due to the organized periodical motion are damped.
4 Conclusions
This study presented the details and analysed results of the
recent experimental investigation into the effect of a set of
vortex generators fitted to a circular cylinder with a specific
emphasis on the details of the near-wake flow. The flow
measurements were taken using a two-dimensional DPIV
system in the near-wake region of the circular cylinder with
and without the vortex generators at a Reynolds number of
41,300. The instantaneous flow fields gathered from the
measurements were analysed using three complementary
techniques which are Reynolds averaging, phase averaging
and POD. Various important flow properties such as vor-
ticity, stress distribution and wake oscillation frequencies
were obtained from these analyses and discussed in details.
Based on the investigation, the followings are found.
The comparative analyses of the results with and with-
out the VG confirm that the vortex generators have a sig-
nificant effect on the near-wake flow and hence the
boundary layer of the cylinder. The Reynolds-averaged
flow fields showed that the VG enforced the shear layers to
get closer to each other, bend towards the centreline and

123
1078
decrease the width of the near-wake. These characteristics
clearly indicated that the flow separation was delayed on
the measurement plane. The characteristic length scales of
the wake were considerably increased with the downstream
motion of the separation location. The amount of the global
mean circulation in the flow field was also increased
because of the VG, whilst the width of the shear layers was
decreased. Concentrated pattern of the shear layers caused
the vortex formation process to occur at longer distances
from the cylinder. The relative measure of comparative
mean drag coefficients revealed that a significant drag
reduction was possible with the vortex generators. The
Strouhal number increased approximately 41% (at VG50)
and subsequently decreased gradually due to the possible
reduction in the strength of the forming vortices.
The comparative phase-averaged flow field characteris-
tics, providing detailed topological information and offer-
ing effective decomposition of stress fields at constant
phase, indicated a similar but different vortex shedding
cycle, demonstrating the weakening of the vortices and
dissimilar circulation character due to the effect of the VG.
The comparative POD analyses of the flow fields showed a
serious decrease in the stresses for both random and peri-
odical motions in the near-wake while the high stress
regions move far downstream due to the effect of the VG. It
is also identified that the VG have a more dominant effect
on the large-scaled periodical motion than the random one.
It is believed that the present study offers essential
information to understand the physics of the bluff body
near-wake flow phenomenon involving vortex generators
as well as providing experimental support for accurate
numerical modelling of this type flow control device.
Acknowledgments The experimental work presented in this paper
was conducted during the Principal Author’s research study visit to
Newcastle University, which was sponsored by the Tinçel Culture
Foundation, Istanbul University. The authors gratefully acknowledge
Prof. A. Yücel Odabaşı, Prof. Ömer Gören and Assoc. Prof. Okşan
Çetiner Yıldırım from Istanbul Technical University for their
invaluable contributions to the study and Bo Beltoft Watz from
Dantec Dynamics A/S for her support during the experiments. Special
thanks are conveyed to Roderick Sampson for his help during the
preparation of this paper and Ian Patterson for his efforts during the
tests.
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