Smoke observations of wakes of tandem cylinders at low Reynolds numbers

Abstract

The appearance of the Kármán vortex street in the wake of bluff bodies has been well-known for sixty years. But the simple question of whether it appears also in the wakes of two cylinders in tandem at the same speed range, seems to have been unanswered as yet. The main reason for this is presumably the lack of practical interest. The only exception was in the early years of aviation in the era of biplanes. The use of streamlined or cylindrical struts was common and stimulated the investigations of Panell et al 1915, Wong & Yu 1917, Frazer & Simmons 1917, Biermann & Herrnstein 1933, and others.