The Hydrodynamic Behavior of Vortex Shedding behind Circular Cylinder in the Presence of Group Focused Waves

Abstract

Vortex shedding behind an elastically mounted circular cylinder in the presence of group focused waves propagating upstream was investigated using a classical approach (time series and FFT) and nonclassical approach (complex 2D Morlet wavelets). Wavelet analysis emerged as a novel solution in this regard. Our results include wave trains with different nonlinearities propagating in different water depths and derived from three types of spectra (Pierson–Moskowitz, JONSWAP (γ = 3.3 or γ = 7)). It was found that the generated wave trains could modify regimes of shedding behind the cylinder, and subharmonic frequency lock-in could arise in particular situations. The occurrence of a lock-in regime in the case of wave trains propagating in intermediate water locations was shown experimentally even for small nonlinearities. Moreover, the application of time-localized wavelet analysis was found to be a powerful approach. In fact, the frequency lock-in regime and its duration could be readily identified from the wavelet-based energy and its corresponding ridges.

Keywords

• vortex shedding
• subharmonic synchronization
• circular cylinder
• group focused waves
• JONSWAP
• Pierson–Moskowitz