ANALYSIS OF THE NON-STATIONARY FLOW AROUND A RECTANGULAR CYLINDER

Abstract. The non-stationary flow structure around a rectangular cylinder immersed in a water steady flow is analyzed through topological analysis of time resolved PIV velocity fields. The phenomenon considered is characterized by the presence of large scale eddies, which are the main responsible of the hydrodynamic loading on the cylinder. In order to investigate the correlation between the hydrodynamic loading and the flow structures, we have identified and measured the motion of large scale eddies generated by the flow separations through the tracking of their vortex centres. The leading and trailing vortices have been characterized by calculating their convection velocity and shedding frequency