| Abstract: | The origination of detached separation is studied on the basis of a numerical solution of the full Navier–Stokes equations. Fluxes of vorticity with different signs generated with twice the frequency of cylinder oscillation move from the cylinder to the outer surface of a detached liquid layer in the form of concentric rings. Near the critical layer between the attached layer and the main flow these rings are torn and crimped to the regions of separated vortices of the corresponding sign. The form of detached separated vortices is similar to that of vortices originating from a stationary circular cylinder in a uniform flow. Transition of the flow to a non-symmetric form with Karman vortex street generation at a Reynolds number (based on the radius) greater than 17 is revealed. This critical Reynolds number is smaller than that for a stationary circular cylinder in a viscous stream (where Re=20 has been determined to be a critical value) and corresponds to the Reynolds number extrapolated from the critical value for the stationary cylinder by increasing the cylinder radius by the attached layer thickness. The vorticity flux from the cylinder surface immediately into the separation region decreases as the frequency of cylinder oscillation increases. Violation of the flow potentiality in the detached separation region is the main cause of the vorticity generation on the outer surface of the attached liquid layer. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
