Fluid-dynamic loading on a tilted rectangular cylinder near a solid wall

We investigate the impact of different boundary conditions on the flow field developing around a tilted rectangular cylinder. We are mainly interested in analyzing the changes in force coefficients and in the vortex shedding Strouhal number due to the proximity of the cylinder to a bottom plate (placed at various distances from the cylinder) at different angles of attack. The angle of attack ranges between -30° and +30° and the cylinder elevation above the bottom wall is varied between almost zero and 200 mm. The effects of the different boundary conditions on the vortex shedding phenomenon are investigated by considering the Strouhal number of the vortex shedding as the key controlling parameter. The experimental results mimicking the unbounded conditions (relative large elevation of the cylinder above the solid wall) are in close agreement with those already found in literature. On the contrary, remarkable differences occur when the elevation of the cylinder is decreased. A large body of experimental results is related to the small elevation conditions at different attack angles, where the presence of the wall has a non-negligible effect on the behavior of the force coefficients and Strouhal number of the vortex shedding. Copyright © 2006 by ASME.