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Virginia Tech

The Two Point Correlation Structure of a Cylinder Wake

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

In this study the complete four dimensional space time correlation function was measured in the wake of an untripped circular cylinder at a Reynolds number of 60 000. This correlation serves as the complete inflow boundary condition for an open rotor ingesting inhomogeneous turbulence. An important aspect of the turbulence ingestion problem is understanding how different inflow boundary conditions effect the sound produced by a rotor. In the present study the turbulence structure of two plane wakes were compared. Measurements completed by a previous study in the wake of a NACA 0012 airfoil were compared with the measurements completed by the present study in the wake of a cylinder. The mean flows of both plane wakes were found to be very similar, however the Reynolds stress profiles show that the cylinder wake is substantially more turbulent. The structures of the two-point correlation function in each wake are also similar, although the cylinder wake had greater maximum correlation values and was correlated at greater separations. The two-point correlation was used along with proper orthogonal decomposition to compute the average instantaneous velocity fields of both wake flows. These velocity fields represent the average eddy structures present in each wake flow. The eddy structure comparisons show that the structures in the cylinder wake are larger and better correlated at longer time delays.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Aerospace Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2017

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Molinaro, Nicholas Joseph
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Devenport, William J.
  • Alexander, William Nathan
Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Lowe, K. Todd

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:12003
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78296

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Molinaro, Nicholas Joseph. The Two Point Correlation Structure of a Cylinder Wake. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/78296