Nonlinear streaming effects associated with oscillating cylinders

Abstract

This paper deals with nonlinear streaming effects associated with oscillatory motion in a viscous fluid. A previous theory by Holtsmarket al.(1954) for the streaming near a circular cylinder in an incompressible fluid of infinite extent is reconsidered and used to obtain new numerical results, which are compared with earlier observations. The regime of validity of this theory is considered. The condition to be satisfied by the Reynolds number is found to be less stringent than was previously supposed.The more recent theory by Wang (1968) based on the outer–inner expansion technique is discussed and corrected with the Stokes drift.The case of an incompressible fluid enclosed between two coaxial cylinders, one of which is oscillating, is considered in detail. New theoretical and experimental results are given for various values of the parameters involved (Reynolds number, amplitude and cylinder radii).