Vortex shedding in cylinder flow of shear-thinning fluids. Part I. Identification and demarcation of flow regimes

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2003

Authors

P. M. Coelho (Author) FEUP; F. T. Pinho (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics

Vol. 110 No. 2

Pages: 143-176

ISSN: 0377-0257

Publisher: Elsevier

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Other information

Abstract (EN): An experimental study on the flow of non-Newtonian fluids around a cylinder was undertaken to identify and delimit the various shedding flow regimes as a function of adequate non-dimensional numbers. The measurements of vortex shedding frequency and formation length (lf) were carried out by laser-Doppler anemometry in Newtonian fluids and in aqueous polymer solutions of CMC and tylose. These were shear thinning and elastic at weight concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 0.6%. The 10 and 20 mm diameter cylinders (D) used in the experiments had aspect ratios of 12 and 6 and blockage ratios of 5 and 10%, respectively. The Reynolds number (Re*) was based on a characteristic shear rate of U∞/(2D) and ranged from 50 to 9×103 thus encompassing the laminar shedding, the transition and shear-layer transition regimes. Increasing fluid elasticity reduced the various critical Reynolds numbers (Reetr*, Relf*, Rebbp*) and narrowed the extent of the transition regime. For the 0.6% tylose solution the transition regime was even suppressed. On the other end, pseudoplasticity was found to be indirectly responsible for the observed reduction in Reotr*: it increases the Strouhal number which in turn increases the vortex filaments, precursors of the transition regime. Elasticity was better quantified by the elasticity number Re′/We than by the Weissenberg number. This elasticity number involves the calculation of the viscosity at a high characteristic shear rate, typical of the boundary layer, rather than at the average value (U∞/(2D)) used for the Reynolds number, Re*.

Language: Portuguese

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific