Wake velocity measurement for

flow over a circular cylinder

Aim of the experiment:

To measure flow velocity in the in the wake region behind the circular cylinder and plot the
non-dimensional velocity distribution in a plane behind the cylinder.

Apparatus:
1. Cylinder Tube- It is our object of interest on which we are going to calculate the
pressure at different circumferential points by rotating it.
2. Betz Manometer: It is an instrument to measure low air or gas pressures or pressure
differences with high accuracy. Static pressure is measured by using Betz.
3. Wind Tunnel: Wind tunnels are the large tubes with air moving inside. It consists of a
tubular passage with the object under test mounted in the middle. These tunnels are
used to mimic actions of object in flight.

THEORY:
1. Flow Separation:

The presence of the fluid viscosity slows down the fluid particles very close to the solid
surface and forms a thin slow-moving fluid layer called the boundary layer. The flow
velocity is zero at the surface to satisfy the no-slip boundary condition. Inside the boundary
layer, flow momentum is quite low since it experiences a strong viscous flow resistance.
Therefore, the boundary layer flow is sensitive to the external pressure gradient (as the
form of a pressure force acting upon fluid particles). If the pressure decreases in the
direction of the flow, the pressure gradient is said to be favorable. In this case, the pressure
force can assist the fluid movement and there is no flow retardation. However, if the
pressure is increasing in the direction of the flow, an adverse pressure gradient condition,
as it is called, exists. In addition to the presence of a strong viscous force, the fluid particles
now have to move against the increasing pressure force. Therefore, the fluid particles could
be stopped or reversed, causing the neighboring particles to move away from the surface.
This phenomenon is called the boundary layer separation.

2. WAKE:

The wake is the region of disturbed flow (often turbulent) downstream of a solid body
moving through a fluid, caused by the flow of the fluid around the body.
For a blunt body in subsonic external flow, for example the Apollo or Orion capsules during
descent and landing, the wake is massively separated and behind the body is a reverse flow
region where the flow is moving toward the body. This phenomenon is often observed
in wind tunnel testing of aircraft, and is especially important when parachute systems are
involved, because unless the parachute lines extend the canopy beyond the reverse flow
region, the chute can fail to inflate and thus collapse. Parachutes deployed into wakes
suffer dynamic pressure deficits which reduce their expected drag forces. High-
fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations are often undertaken to model wake
flows, although such modeling has uncertainties associated with turbulence modeling (for
example RANS versus LES implementations), in addition to unsteady flow effects. Example
applications include rocket stage separation and aircraft store separation.

FORMULA USED:

U∞ = Free Stream Velocity U = Local velocity to be measured

P = Total Pressure ,P = Static Pressure,ρ= Density ofair(here)

From the application of Bernoulli’s Equation, we get

PS +0.5*ρ*U2 = P

𝟐(𝐏𝐭−𝐏𝐬)
𝐔=√
𝛒

Re = (ρ U∞ d) /μair

Where d is the diameter of the cylinder, d = 25 mm.

And μairis the viscosityof air, μair= 1.5 x 10-6 m2/s.

PROCEDURE :

• A cylinder of diameter 25mm is placed in the test section of the wind tunnel.
• Wait for 15 -20 min after the wind tunnel motor is switched on to attain steady
periodic state in wake region.
• The total pressure is calculated along the Y axis of wake region by moving pitot
probe by magnitude of 3 mm which is connected to the Prandtl manometer .
• Free stream static pressure is measured from the wall tap with the help of Betz
manometer.
OBSERVATION TABLE: U∞= 17.6 m/s ( observed experimentally ).
1/2
HEIGHT (Y) STATIC PRESSURE TOTAL PRESSURE U = [2(PS - PT)/ρ]
(in cm) (PS) (in Pa) (PT) (in Pa)
40 53 244 17.65889959
39 53 243 17.61261144
38 53 242 17.56620131
37 53 243 17.61261144
36 53 242 17.56620131
35 53 241 17.51966825
34 53 242 17.56620131
33 53 241 17.51966825
32 53 242 17.56620131
31 53 243 17.61261144
30 60 246 17.42622935
29 67 248 17.19041024
28 77 251 16.85472138
28.5 85 254 16.61079069
28 103 260 16.01020083
27.5 128 263 14.84614978
27 151 264 13.58270208
26.5 181 270 12.05429892
26 195 272 11.21223821
25.5 205 267 10.06103821
25 178 264 11.84939506
24.5 157 260 12.96777796
24 130 254 14.22845668
23.5 105 247 15.22618582
23 86 242 15.95913148
22.5 74 237 16.31325991
22 65 233 16.56157342
21.5 57 230 16.80621848
21 52 227 16.90308509
20.5 59 223 16.36322407
20 49 221 16.7575752
19.5 47 219 16.7575752
19 47 218 16.70879031
18 47 217 16.65986256
17 47 216 16.61079069
16 47 216 16.61079069
15 46 214 16.56157342
14 46 213 16.51220946
13 46 212 16.46269748
12 45 212 16.51220946
11 45 210 16.41303613
Observation table 2:

U/U∞ Y/d
1.003346568 16
1.000716559 15.6
0.99807962 15.2
1.000716559 14.8
0.99807962 14.4
0.995435696 14
0.99807962 13.6
0.995435696 13.2
0.99807962 12.8
1.000716559 12.4
0.990126668 12
0.976727854 11.6
0.957654624 11.2
0.943794926 11.4
0.909670502 11.2
0.843531237 11
0.771744437 10.8
0.684903348 10.6
0.637058989 10.4
0.571649898 10.2
0.673261083 10
0.736805566 9.8
0.808435039 9.6
0.865124194 9.4
0.906768834 9.2
0.926889768 9
0.94099849 8.8
0.954898777 8.6
0.960402562 8.4
0.92972864 8.2
0.952134954 8
0.952134954 7.8
0.949363086 7.6
0.9465831 7.2
0.943794926 6.8
0.943794926 6.4
0.94099849 6
0.938193719 5.6
0.935380538 5.2
0.938193719 4.8
0.932558871 4.4
 Y/d

18

16

14

12

10
y/d

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
U/U(∞)

SOURCES OF ERROR:

1) The fluctuations in the Betz manometer (Analog readings) and Prandtl manometer
(Digital readings).

PRECAUTIONS:

1) Make a note of the units of the manometers.

2) Wait for the flow to attain steady state in the wake region.

3) Make sure to rule out parallax errors.

RESULT:

The flow becomes turbulent in the wake region.

From the graph, we observe that within the wake region, the velocity is minimum along the
the centre line of the cylinder and increases in either direction.