End-wall effects on vortex shedding in planar shear flow over a circular cylinder

A prevailing controversy regarding the suppression of periodic vortex shedding from a circular cylinder embedded in a planar shear flow has been addressed. Three-dimensional computer simulations utilizing the advanced MGLET software [11] demonstrated the importance of the end-wall conditions. Earlier results from two-dimensional simulations at Re = 100 were reproduced only with free-slip conditions. With no-slip conditions imposed at one or both end-walls, the vortex shedding was suppressed near the no-slip boundary and the shedding pattern was substantially affected even at mid-span. The Strouhal number decreased when the shear-rate parameter was increased from 0.1 to 0.2, irrespective of the choice of boundary conditions.