Free vibrations of two side-by-side cylinders with fixed support (no rotation and displacement) at both ends placed in a cross-flow were experimentally investigated. Two fibre-optic Bragg grating sensors were used to measure the dynamic strain, while a hot wire and flow visualization were employed to examine the flow field around the cylinders. Three T /d ratios, 3.00, 1.70 and 1.13, were investigated, where T is the centre-to-centre cylinder spacing and d is the diameter; they give rise to three different flow regimes. The investigation throws new light on the shed vortices and their evolution. A new interpretation is proposed for the two different dominant frequencies, which are associated with the narrow and the wide wake when the gap between the cylinders is between 1.5 and 2.0 as reported in the literature. The structural vibration behaviour is closely linked to the flow characteristics. At T /d = 3.00, the cross-flow root-mean-square strain distribution shows a very prominent peak at the reduced velocity U r ≈ 26 when the vortex shedding frequency f s , coincides with the third-mode natural frequency of the combined fluid-cylinder system. When T /d < 3.00, this peak is not evident and the vibration is suppressed because of the weakening strength of the vortices. The characteristics of the system modal damping ratios, including both structural and fluid damping, and natural frequencies are also investigated. It is found that both parameters depend on T /d. Furthermore, they vary slowly with U r , except near resonance where a sharp variation occurs. The sharp variation in the natural frequencies of the combined system is dictated by the vortex shedding frequency, in contrast with the lock-in phenomenon, where the forced vibration of a structure modifies the vortex shedding frequency. This behaviour of the system natural frequencies persists even in the case of the single cylinder and does not seem to depend on the interference between cylinders. A linear analysis of an isolated cylinder in a cross-flow has been carried out. The linear model prediction is qualitatively consistent with the experimental observation of the system damping ratios and natural frequencies, thus providing valuable insight into the physics of fluid-structure interactions.

The characteristics of near-wall turbulence are examined and the result is used to assess the behaviour of the various terms in the Reynolds-stress transport equations. It is found that all components of the velocity-pressure-gradient correlation vanish at the wall. Conventional splitting of this second-order tensor into a pressure diffusion part and a pressure redistribution part and subsequent neglect of the pressure diffusion term in the modelled Reynolds-stress equations leads to finite near-wall values for two components of the redistribution tensor. This, therefore, suggests that, in near-wall turbulent flow modelling, the velocity-pressure-gradient correlation rather than pressure redistribution should be modelled. Based on this understanding, a methodology to derive an asymptotically correct model for the velocity-pressure-gradient correlation is proposed. A model that has the property of approaching the high-Reynolds-number model for pressure redistribution far away from the wall is derived. A similar analysis is carried out on the viscous dissipation term and asymptotically correct near-wall modifications are proposed. The near-wall closure based on the Reynolds-stress equations and a conventional low-Reynolds-number dissipation-rate equation is used to calculate fully-developed turbulent channel and pipe flows at different Reynolds numbers. A careful parametric study of the model constants introduced by the near-wall closure reveals that one constant in the dissipation-rate equation is Reynolds-number dependent, and a preliminary expression is proposed for this constant. With this modification, excellent agreement with near-wall turbulence statistics, measured and simulated, is obtained, especially the anisotropic behaviour of the normal stresses. On the other hand, it is found that the dissipation-rate equation has a significant effect on the calculated Reynolds-stress budgets. Possible improvements could be obtained by using available direct simulation data to help formulate a more realistic dissipation-rate equation. When such an equation is available, the present approach can again be used to derive a near-wall closure for the Reynolds-stress equations. The resultant closure could give improved predictions of the turbulence statistics and the Reynolds-stress budgets.

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Turbulent boundary layers along a convex surface of varying curvature were investigated in a specially designed boundary-layer tunnel. A fairly complete set of turbulence measurements was obtained.The effect of curvature is striking. For example, along a convex wall the Reynolds stress is decreased near the wall and vanishes about midway between the wall and the edge of a boundary layer where there exists a velocity profile gradient created upstream of the curved wall.