Near wake field of circular cylinder with a forward splitter plate

Investigation of flow past a circular cylinder has been carried out using experimental tools at subcritical Reynolds number of 5.1×104. Pressure, hot wire and particle image velocimetry measurements have been used to understand the flow past forward splitter plate - cylinder combination. The forward splitter plate modifies the flow conditions upstream of the cylinder. Further, the wake characteristics downstream of the cylinder are also substantially altered. At subcritical Reynolds number, the flow separation is delayed and the shedding frequency is increased in the forward splitter plate cylinder case as compared to the plain cylinder case. It has been shown that the forward splitter plate reduces drag by 13% as compared to the plain cylinder configuration. The streamwise and transverse velocity fluctuations in the cylinder wake are reduced by 22% and 27% respectively in the presence of forward splitter plate. The phase averaged PIV measurements reveal that the vortices shed in the forward splitter plate cylinder case are weaker in strength as compared to the plain cylinder case.