Flow patterns and turbulence effects in large cylinder arrays

Studies on flow-induced vibrations in large tube bundles are usually focused solely on frequency analysis, without considering the flow patterns which are responsible for the fluid forces. Furthermore, investigations which involve variations in the spacing ratios do not separate transversal and longitudinal proximity effects. The purpose of this article is to separately analyze the influence of the transversal (T/D) and longitudinal (L/D) spacing ratios of a confined in-line cylinder array with five rows on the flow characteristics and to identify flow patterns. The laser Doppler anemometry technique was employed to acquire the mean velocity and its fluctuations in the transversal and longitudinal directions between the cylinder rows. Strouhal numbers and regimes reported in the literature were identified in the experiments. The same regime did not always persist along all cylinder rows for a given spacing ratio, as a result of the combined longitudinal and transversal proximity effects and also of the generation of turbulence by the array. For the smallest T/D ratio, a quasi-steady behavior associated with the biased flow pattern was noted in the experimental set-up and flip-flopping was observed in one case. Additionally, the flow characteristics in these arrays diverged from tube bundle classifications described in the literature. The behavior of the fluid forces and susceptibility to vibrations in the array were predicted based on the turbulence intensity of the incident flow of the cylinders. The results reinforced the need to extend flow pattern investigations to arrays with more cylinder rows and to consider both transversal and longitudinal proximity effects, when studying flow-induced vibrations.