1
$\begingroup$

I am getting into computational fluid dynamics (CFD). One of my professors mentioned that a cylindrical wake would be a good starting point to learn about turbulence modelling when using CFD software. I'm not a native speaker, so I googled

cylindrical wake CFD

but the results confuse me (also the translations of my dictionary). How is wake defined in the context of CFD and what is a good resource to read up on it?

|cite|improve this question
$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ The wake is just the fluid effects behind the cyclinder. I don't believe there is a rigorous definition for it. If you image search for cylinder cfd, you will see plots of several different flow regimes that would hopefully help you get a feel for what he is refering to. $\endgroup$ – Godric Seer May 16 '13 at 15:18
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, doing this finally lead me to the Wikipedia entry on wake, which even contains something like a definition. $\endgroup$ – seb May 16 '13 at 15:57
3
$\begingroup$

The two comments above are good for the definition of a wake, but in the case of the flow around the cylinder in 2D, the von Karman vortex street is the canonical problem that your professor was talking about.

|cite|improve this answer
$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ awesome! thank you, that was exactly what he drew on the white board! $\endgroup$ – seb May 16 '13 at 20:50

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.