Measurement of pressure fluctuation distribution on a flat wall behind supported square cylinder with pressure-sensitive paint

The pressure fluctuation distribution on the floor surface behind a supported square cylinder in a turbulent boundary layer was measured by using pressure-sensitive paint (PSP). Specifically, the accuracy and frequency response of PSP at a Mach number around M = 0.3 were examined. Four square cylinders with different dimensions were investigated in the same turbulent boundary layer, and the detailed relationship between these conditions and Kármán vortex shedding structures was discussed. The values measured with PSP had a similar trend to those measured with a pressure transducer at up to 5 kHz. The peak power spectral density (PSD) of the pressure fluctuations due to Kármán vortex shedding was observed within an error of approximately 30 % at up to frequencies greater than 3 kHz. Moreover, the peak frequency of Kármán vortex shedding was found to decrease with the cylinder height in a manner similar to a previous empirical equation for the Strouhal number. The peak PSD value for the shortest square cylinder (h/w = 3.5, h/δ = 1.1) was twice as high as that for the other cylinders; also, the high-pressure fluctuation area in this case did not spread downstream, which suggests that the flow from the top of the cylinder affected the Kármán vortex shedding generated from the cylinder’s sides. One contour of the two main modes extracted for the highest PSD via the right singular vector v_i at the Kármán vortex frequency had an asymmetric distribution behind the supported taller square cylinders (h/w ≥ 7.0, h/δ ≥ 2.3). This result is considered to be derived from the Kármán vortex shedding being mainly generated from the mainstream rather than the boundary-layer flow.