Pressure and Drag Measurement on the Circular Cylinder

Naman Kumar Sahu (20AE30012)

Dept. Of Aerospace Engineering

Aim:
How the pressure distributions around a cylinder look like and how it differs from potential
flow theory.

Objectives
 To investigate static pressure distribution around circular cylinder and understand the
flow separation around it.
 To measure total pressure and stagnation pressure around the cylinder for the calculation
of Cp.
 To calculate coefficient of pressure drag and lift coefficient from the coefficient of
pressure.

Experimental setup
I. Airflow bench
II. A circular cylinder as test section
 Figure 1:: Airflow bench with circular cylinder as test section

Experimental Procedure

1. We have performed this experiment on an airflow bench which is like a vertical wind
tunnel.
2. At first, we have set up the wind tunnel by attaching a circular cylinder test section to it,
which also have a protector attached to it divided in 360 degrees.
3. The circular cylinder has a very fine pressure tapping which is used to calculate static
pressure on the cylinder
inder since it is perpendicular to flow over the cylinder, so we have
attached a port on the cylinder to measure this value.
4. There we have attached two more ports one from the settling chamber of the airflow
bench to measure
sure the value of 𝑃 and another one from the inlet of wind tunnel(test
tunnel
section) to measure the
he value of 𝑃 .
 5. Now we have turned on the air supply and measured the value of static pressure, total
pressure, and stagnation pressure at different angles by rotating the cylinder and also have
noted down the value of the angle with the help of the protector attached through it.
6. With the values of pressure calculated from the experiment, we have calculated the value
of the coefficient of pressure (Cp) and used those values to calculate the pressure drag
coefficient and lift force.
7. We have compared the value of the coefficient of pressure (Cp) obtained from the
experiment and the theoretical value of Cp, at different angles.
8. We have performed this experiment multiple times at different Reynolds numbers by
changing the mass flow rate.
9. At last, we have plotted the graph between
a) Cp v/s theta (both theoretical and experimental)
b) Deviation of Cp from theoretical value v/s theta
c) Pressure drag coefficient v/s Reynolds number
d) Lift coefficient v/s Reynolds number

Observation table

Pressure inside the settling chamber (i.e. air box) = P 0 = 324 mm of H2O
Pressure at the inlet of wind tunnel (i.e. test section) = P ∞ = 262 mm of H2O
Inlet velocity = 32.258 m/s.
Diameter of the cylinder = 12.55 mm.

Coefficient of Coefficient of
Static Dynamic
Ɵ pressure
pressure, pressure,
pressure, Ps
(in Ps - P∞ Cp,exp = (Ps - P∞) / Cp,theo = 1 -
(mm of = 0.5 × ρ ×
Degree) (P0 - P∞) 4Sin2Ɵ
water) U2∞ = P0 - P∞
(Experimental) (Theoretical)

0 321 59 62 0.95 1
10 317 55 62 0.89 0.879385242
20 301 39 62 0.63 0.532088886
30 276 14 62 0.23 0
40 244 -18 62 -0.29 -0.65270364
50 213 -49 62 -0.79 -1.34729636
60 189 -73 62 -1.18 -2
70 181 -81 62 -1.31 -2.53208889
80 186 -76 62 -1.23 -2.87938524
90 192 -70 62 -1.13 -3
 100 194 -68 62 -1.10 -2.87938524
110 192 -70 62 -1.13 -2.53208889
120 192 -70 62 -1.13 -2
130 190 -72 62 -1.16 -1.34729636
140 190 -72 62 -1.16 -0.65270364
150 190 -72 62 -1.16 0
160 189 -73 62 -1.18 0.532088886
170 190 -72 62 -1.16 0.879385242
180 190 -72 62 -1.16 1
190 191 -71 62 -1.15 0.879385242
200 190 -72 62 -1.16 0.532088886
210 190 -72 62 -1.16 0
220 190 -72 62 -1.16 -0.65270364
230 192 -70 62 -1.13 -1.34729636
240 193 -69 62 -1.11 -2
250 194 -68 62 -1.10 -2.53208889
260 194 -68 62 -1.10 -2.87938524
270 194 -68 62 -1.10 -3
280 187 -75 62 -1.21 -2.87938524
290 183 -79 62 -1.27 -2.53208889
300 192 -70 62 -1.13 -2
310 218 -44 62 -0.71 -1.34729636
320 248 -14 62 -0.23 -0.65270364
330 279 17 62 0.27 -1.7764E-15
340 304 42 62 0.68 0.532088886
350 318 56 62 0.90 0.879385242
360 320 58 62 0.94 1

Sample Calculation

For 𝜃 = 40

Pressure inside the settling chamber (i.e. air box) = 𝑃 = 274 mm of 𝐻 𝑂

Pressure at the inlet of wind tunnel (i.e. test section) = 𝑃 = 252 mm of 𝐻 𝑂
Pressure on the cylinder surface = 𝑃 = 266 mm of 𝐻 𝑂
Angle (𝜃) = 40 deg = (20 × π/180) = 0.6981 rad.
Inlet velocity = 𝑈 = 19.216 m/s.
Density of air (ρ) = 1.23 Kg/m3
Diameter of the cylinder = 12.55 mm.

Coefficient of pressure (Experimental) = 𝐶 , =

𝐶 , =

244-262
Thus, 𝐶 , = = (-18/62) = -0.29
324-262

Coefficient of pressure (Theoretical) = 𝐶 , = 1 – 4(𝑆𝑖𝑛Ɵ) = 1 - 4× {0.5× (1 - 𝐶𝑜𝑠2Ɵ)}

𝐶, = 1 - 4 × {0.5 × (1 - Cos (2×0.6981))}
So, 𝐶 , = -0.6527

Result and discussion