Streakline visualization of the structures in the near wake of a circular cylinder in sinusoidally oscillating flow

A numerical investigation of three-dimensional sinusoidally oscillating flow around a circular cylinder was conducted to examine mushroom-type structures in the near wake that are manifestations of the Honji instability. The focus of this paper is to examine the flow structure through the analysis of the streaklines in the flow. Through the use of streakline visualizations and their correlation with vorticity in the flow field, the onset and development of the mushroom-type structures is followed. The parameter value range is 0.1β=1035, 6815, and 9956. The streakline patterns in several axial planes are examined and used to describe the various mechanisms that sustain the mushroom-type structure during the oscillatory cycle.