Abstract
Experiments were performed at low Reynolds numbers in the range 75 <= Re <= 275 in the wake of a circular cylinder of d(c) diameter placed symmetrically between two parallel walls of H height. 2D2C particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to investigate the flow downstream the cylinder. In the unsteady flow regime downstream the cylinder, the detached primary vortices (Pi) interact with walls generating secondary ones (Pi') and modify the cylinder wake dynamic. The kinematical properties (advection velocity, circulation, rotation kinetic energy, etc.) of the generated secondary vortices are studied and compared with the primary ones in order to show how the walls influence the von Karman vortex street. The authors propose here a relation between the circulations and kinetic energies of primary and secondary vortices.