Experimental Study of Vortex Shedding From a Solid Sphere in Turbulent Freestream

The study of vortex shedding from a sphere assumes an important role because of its relevance to numerous aerodynamic and hydrodynamic applications. Parameters such as coefficient of drag and static pressure distribution are largely influenced by vortex shedding, and it is found by past studies that the freestream turbulence can interact and alter the vortex formation and shedding drastically. Most of these studies, however, were conducted in the low Reynolds number regime and the vortex shedding results had been described only qualitatively. To better understand the aerodynamics of a sphere in turbulent flow, an experimental study was initiated in a low speed wind tunnel to quantify the vortex shedding characteristics. The Reynolds number of the flow, based on the diameter of the sphere (d), was set at 3.3 × 10⁴, 5 × 10⁴ and 6.6 × 10⁴ by varying the mean flow velocity. The sphere was placed at 20D (= 7.5d) downstream from a perforated plate, where D = 37.5 mm is the size of the holes in the perforated plate, uniquely designed for generating near-isotropic turbulence. Hot-wire measurements were taken at 10D (= 3.75d), 20D (= 7.5d) and 30D (= 11.25d) downstream of the sphere in absence and presence of the perforated plate. The vortex shedding frequency was deduced from the instantaneous flow velocity data.