Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197

www.elsevier.com/locate/flowmeasinst

Flow characteristics of circular cylinders arranged side-by-side

in shallow water
Huseyin Akilli
, Atakan Akar, Cuma Karakus
Çukurova University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 01330 Adana, Turkey

Received 6 January 2004; received in revised form 2 April 2004; accepted 7 April 2004

Abstract

The flow around two and three side-by-side circular cylinders of equal diameter in shallow water was investigated experimen-
tally using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique, over a transverse gap ratio in the range of G=D ¼ 1:0 3:0 with an
increment of 0.25. The experiments were conducted in a closed-loop water channel with Reynolds number 5000 based on the cyl-
inder diameter. In addition to the PIV measurements, flow visualization studies were also carried out. The PIV technique pro-
vided instantaneous and averaged patterns of velocity, vorticity and Reynolds stress contours and streamline topology. For the
two side-by-side cylinder case, it was found that the flow structure behind the cylinders is asymmetrical at small gap ratios as a
result of jet-like flow between the cylinders. The jet-like flow tends to deflect toward the narrow wake region that has a higher
vortex shedding frequency. In the case of three cylinders, both an asymmetrical flow structure at small gap ratio (G=D ¼ 1:25)
and a symmetrical flow structure at intermediate gap ratios (1:5 G=D  2:0) were observed. Bistable wake regions were obtained
for the asymmetrical cases. The Reynolds stress (u0 v0 ) downstream of the upper cylinder was significantly attenuated for G=D ¼
1:25 where the jet-like flow is more effective for both two and three circular cylinder arrangements.
# 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Side-by-side cylinders; Shallow water; PIV; Wake flow; Vortex shedding

1. Introduction wake of islands, and understanding of island wake flow

A shallow water flow is defined as the situation
where the horizontal length scale of a typical eddy is
significantly larger than the vertical extent of the flow,
which means that the dominating processes take place
in the horizontal plane. Many wake flows can be char-
acterized as shallow turbulent flows in nature, for
example, in wide rivers, lakes, estuaries, shallow coastal
waters, mountains or the stratified atmosphere. Differ-
ent flow patterns around islands were investigated by
Ingram and Chu [1], Wolanski et al. [2] and Lloyd et al.
[3]. Aerial photographs or satellite images can reveal
striking occurrences of such flows, often associated
with large-scale well ordered and coherent flow pat-
terns. Due to the complex flow pattern of water in the

ferent instability mechanisms in shallow water flow and
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-322-338-6084x2722; fax: +90-
322-338-6126.
E-mail address: hakilli@mail.cu.edu.tr (H. Akilli).
0955-5986/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2004.04.003
is very important in terms of water quality. Complex
eddy-like motion in the wake region of islands creates
poor water quality on the sheltered side of islands and
can trap sediments and pollutants. Understanding of
this kind of flow plays an important role in the
location of outfall discharges, mud disposals, cooling
intakes, marine parks and reserves [4].
Studies of Ingram and Chu [1] and Chen and Jirka
[5] show that the flow structure behind bluff bodies in
shallow water is different from that in deep water. First
of all, in certain cases, the limited water depth prevents
the development of three-dimensional instabilities. Bot-
tom friction, which acts as a mechanism for sup-
pression of the transverse growth of disturbance, plays
an important role in the development of the turbulent
wake in shallow water. Ingram and Chu [1] studied dif-
defined a dimensionless wake stability parameter S to
account for the stabilizing effect of the transverse shear.
188 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
The parameter S which is based on the ratio of the
small-scale kinetic energy loss to the production of
large-scale turbulent kinetic energy is defined as S ¼
Cf D=h for the bluff body, where Cf is the bottom fric-
tion coefficient, D is the width or diameter of a bluff
body, and h is the water depth. Chen and Jirka [5]
described the critical values of S in order to classify the
different instability mechanisms. For S < 0:2, a Kár-
mán vortex street forms. For S > 0:5, a steady-bubble
wake occurs as a result of the suppression of large-
scale instabilities by the bottom friction. For
0:2 < S < 0:5, an unsteady-bubble wake occurs. Lloyd
and Stansby [6] investigated both experimentally and
numerically the flow patterns around conical island
models in shallow water. They defined regimes of
possible wake pattern.
The wake flow behavior behind bluff bodies in shal-
low water flow helps us to understand the transport
characteristics of the flow. Akilli and Rockwell [7]
investigated the near wake of a circular cylinder in ver-
tical position in shallow water using a combination of
visualization marker and particle image velocimetry
technique (PIV). They located a laser sheet parallel to
the bed of the water channel at different heights to
investigate the flow characteristics in close regions of
the bed and at the various locations above it. At the
bed, the time-averaged streamline topology down-
stream of the base of the cylinder takes on a form
known as an owl face of the first kind, which was orig-
inally defined for a completely different exterior flow.
Immediately adjacent to the base of the cylinder, an
additional system of saddle points (Sp) is located at
either end of a nodal line. At locations above the bed,
one of the two principal saddle points of the owl face
of the first kind disappears and the principal foci (F)
are transformed from a stable to an unstable state.
It is observed that when more than one cylinders are
located in a fluid flow, the vortex shedding pattern is
completely different than that of a single cylinder. The
applications of side-by-side arrangements of two and
more cylinders can be found in many branches of
engineering such as heat exchangers, cooling tower
arrays, fuel and cooling systems for nuclear power
plants, offshore structures, bridges, chimneys, groups of
tall buildings and power transmission lines.
When more than one cylinder is placed in a uniform
flow, the flow characteristics are completely different
from the case of a single cylinder depending on the
arrangement or spacing of the cylinders. There are
numerous studies in the literature concerning the flow
around side-by-side circular cylinders in deep-water
flows. Flow around side-by-side circular cylinders in
deep flow has been investigated by Ishigai et al. [8],
Bearman and Wadcock [9], Kamemoto [10], Kiya et al.
[11], Williamson [12], Jendrzejczyk and Chen [13], Kim
and Durbin [14], Le Gal et al. [15] and Sumner et al.
[16]. The work of Spivack [17] addresses the unsteadi-
ness of gap flow observed in different gap ratios (G=D,
ratio of distance between the center of cylinders to the
diameter of cylinders). He pointed out that the gap
ratio could lead to the formation of single or multiple
wakes. Moreover, the vortex shedding frequency of the
wake downstream of two circular cylinders is the same
as that of the wake of a single circular cylinder for the
gap ratio larger than 2.0. When the gap ratio is adjus-
ted between 1.4 and 2.0, the vortex shedding fre-
quencies on both sides of the wakes are different. For
the gap ratio smaller than 1.4, single vortex shedding
occurs.
Bearman and Wadcock [9] measured pressure distri-
bution around two cylinders in a side-by-side arrange-
ment. The flow becomes asymmetric with two cylinders
experiencing different drags and base pressure and the
drag of the cylinders in combination was less than the
sum of the drags of the isolated cylinders. Kiya et al.
[11] investigated the wake behavior downstream of the
circular cylinders and observed that the characteristics
of the wake were significantly related to the arrange-
ment patterns of the cylinders. Williamson [12] con-
cluded that the low-frequency vortex shedding is
accompanied by a broad wake flow but the high-fre-
quency vortex shedding occurs due to the narrow
wake. He also concluded that when two parallel vortex
streets are in anti-phase; two different vortex streets are
formed. When there is in-phase oscillation of two vor-
tex streets, a large-scale vortex street occurs. Wei and
Chang [18] found that the characteristics of the wake
which occurred behind side-by-side arranged cylinders
are significantly related to the cross-sectional geome-
tries of the bluff-body. The gap flow tends to deflect
toward the narrow wake side downstream of the circu-
lar cylinders. The biasing characteristic of the gap flow
is relatively bistable. The deflected gap flow may
change over intermittently from one side to another.
Zhou et al. [19] proposed that the frequency of the nar-
row wake is approximately three times larger than that
of lower frequency of the wide wake.
The unsteady structure of the flow behind side-by-
side arrangement of circular cylinders in close proxim-
ity has not been investigated in detail in shallow water
flows. The aim of the present work is to obtain quali-
tative and quantitative information on the downstream
flow characteristics of side-by-side arrangement of
cylinders with equal diameter in shallow water flow
using the high-image-density PIV technique. This tech-
nique provides patterns of average and instantaneous
representations of the flow structure such as velocity,
vorticity, streamline topology, Reynolds stress and
root-mean-square fluctuations. The experiments were
carried out in the range 1:0  G=D  3:0 with an
increment of 0.25. The laser sheet was located parallel
 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
to the bottom of the water channel at the mid-section
of the water height.
2. Experimental system and technique
Experiments were undertaken in a low turbulence
closed-loop open-surface water channel test section
having the following dimensions: a length of 8000 mm,
width of 1000 mm, and depth of 750 mm. This facility
was built for PIV experiments for steady and unsteady
flows. Longitudinal free-stream turbulence intensity is
less than 0.5%. A pump driven by an electric motor
having a variable speed controller was used to create a
desired mean flow in the test section. Water was
pumped into a settling chamber through a honeycomb
section. The water was then conveyed through a two-
dimensional two-to-one contraction to reach the test
section which was constructed of 15 mm thick clear
Plexiglas sheet. The overall length of the water channel
is approximately 14000 mm. An overview of the shal-
low water experimental system is shown in Fig. 1. The
cylinder models having a diameter of D ¼ 30 mm were
constructed from Plexiglas so that the laser light could
Fig. 1. Schematic of the experimental system and definition of the parameters for side-by-side arrangement of cylinders.
189
propagate through them. Cylinders were located at a
distance of 5500 mm from the leading edge of the test
section in order to maintain fully developed turbulent
boundary layer. The depth of the water was adjusted to
hw ¼ 25 mm for all experiments using a platform with
a height of hp ¼ 600 mm located in the water channel.
The solid blockage ratio of each cylinder was 2.5%,
having a maximum blockage of 7.5% for three-cylinder
case. Configurations of just a single cylinder, two cylin-
ders and three cylinders were tested. The gap distances
between the cylinder centers for these configurations
were changed from G=D ¼ 1:0 3:0 with an increment
of 0.25. Experiments were carried out at a free-stream
velocity U1 of 0.162 m/s, yielding Reynolds number
based on the cylinder diameter of Re ¼ 5000. Stability
parameter S was calculated as 0.0082. The friction
coefficient of the water table Cf was estimated from the
standard smooth-wall relation as Cf ¼ 0:0068.
Using the PIV technique, instantaneous velocity vec-
tors can be measured in a region illuminated by a two-
dimensional laser sheet. Velocity vector measurements
have been carried out using Dantec PIV system. The
flow field illumination was provided by two Nd:Yag
190 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
pulsed laser sources of a wavelength of 532 nm, each
with a maximum energy output of 120 mJ. Dantec
FlowMap Processor which controlled the timing of the
data acquisition was used to synchronize the image
taking and laser units. The thickness of the laser sheet
illuminating the flow field was approximately 1.5 mm.
PIV measurements were taken in the mid-plane elev-
ation. The water was seeded with the neutrally buoyant
spherical particles of 12 lm in diameter. The move-
ments of the particles were recorded using a CCD cam-
era with a resolution of 1024  1024 pixels. The camera
was equipped with a 60 mm focal-length lens. Dantec
flow grabber digital PIV software employing frame-to-
frame cross-correlation technique was used to calculate
the raw displacement vector field from the particle
image velocity data. In the image processing, 32  32
pixels rectangular effective interrogation windows were
used. During the interrogation process, an overlap of
50% was employed in order to satisfy the Nyquist cri-
terion. Erroneous vectors were removed (less than 1%)
and replaced by using bilinear interpolation between
surrounding vectors in the post-processing step. Velo-
city vectors of the flow were calculated from this dis-
placement vector field. The vorticity patterns of the
wake flow were determined from the velocity field
using a finite difference scheme. Streamlines and circu-
lation were obtained by post-processing of the velocity
data. For all of the experiments, the image magnifi-
cation was 1:5.5 which yields an effective grid size of
2:91  2:91 mm in physical plane of the laser sheet,
corresponding to 3844 velocity vectors. The overall
field of view was 178  178 mm (5:93  5:93 cylinder
diameters). Patterns of instantaneous particle images
(total of 200 images for a continuous series) were taken
at the rate of 15 Hz, thereby spanning 13.4 s. Averaged
patterns of the flow structure were calculated from all
of the instantaneous images. The time delay between
pulses ranged from 1.5 to 2 ms. The velocity vector
field, vorticity contours, streamline topology and other
turbulent statistics were computed. In terms of uncer-
tainty of velocity measurements using the PIV tech-
nique, the digital PIV approach carried out during the
experiments is similar to that employed by Westerweel
[20] who concluded that an uncertainty in velocity is
less than 2%.
Flow visualization experiments using a dye were car-
ried out in order to reveal the flow characteristics of
two and three side-by-side cylinder arrangements. The
fluid motion was recorded with a digital video camera
(Sony DCR TRV 355E). The images were processed
with a frame grabber and then these images were
enhanced for analysis using Adobe Photoshop soft-
ware. Each cylinder had three dye injection holes each
of which having 1 mm diameter located at the mid-
span and near the points of boundary layer separation.
3. Results and discussions
The quantitative dye images of the near-wake region
of two side-by-side circular cylinders are shown in
Fig. 2 for different gap ratios. As seen in Fig. 2a, when
two side-by-side circular cylinders are in contact with
each other, Kármán vortex shedding was observed as a
whole, rather than seen in the case of the individual
cylinders, and vortex shedding frequency in the wake is
about half of the average of the single cylinder case.
When the gap ratio is varied between 1 and 1.15, the
effect of the jet-like flow between cylinders is negligibly
weak. Therefore, a single large-scale Kármán vortex
street is still observed up to G=D ¼ 1:15. As the gap
ratio increases, the jet-like flow between the two cylin-
ders becomes effective. This jet-like flow interacts with
the vortex structure shed from the two cylinders and
causes bistable behavior of the near-wake flow. Figs. 2b
and c show the asymmetric flow pattern for
G=D ¼ 1:25. The gap flow is deflected to one side
(toward the lower cylinder as seen in Fig. 2b), which is
in agreement with the observations of Kim and Durbin
[14], Bearman and Wadcock [9], and Guillaume and La
Rue [21] in deep-water flows. However, this deflected
flow was not observed on the same side (toward the
upper cylinder as seen in Fig. 2c) all the time. The jet-
like flow sometimes moves towards the upper cylinder
and sometimes moves towards the lower cylinder.
However, this bistable nature of the wake flow is not
periodic, it is completely arbitrary. Bistable flow
characteristic is not caused by the misalignment of the
cylinders or other external influences but is an intrinsic
property of the flow [22]. Any perturbation on the flow
field or change in flow conditions might cause this
switching behavior of the flow. The flow visualization
shown in Fig. 2b indicates a wider wake flow region
downstream of the upper cylinder, which corresponds
to smaller vortex shedding frequency and Fig. 2c shows
a wider wake flow region downstream of the lower cyl-
inder which corresponds to a higher vortex shedding
frequency. Approximately, two cylinder diameters
downstream from the base of the cylinders, both wake
regions merge together to form a wider but weaker
wake flow region. A similar flow behavior was
observed for G=D ¼ 1:5 but, having smaller deflection
angle, which is the angle between the directions of free-
stream and jet flow, of the jet-like flow.
This kind of deflected flow is observed until G=D ¼
2:0 after which the wake regions of these cylinders are
not affected from each other and from the jet-like flow
between them. The flow visualization around side-by-
side cylinders having a gap ratio of 2.5 is shown in
Fig. 2d. Two distinct coherent vortex streets are
observed downstream of the each cylinders which are
not virtually different from that of the flow of single
cylinder. Therefore, shedding frequency of these two
 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
Fig. 2. Flow visualization of two side-by-side arrangement of circular cylinders.
vortex structures are found to be almost the same and
equal to the shedding frequency of single cylinder.
In case of three side-by-side cylinders, different vor-
tex shedding patterns are observed. When three cylin-
ders are touching one another, a coupled vortex street
is observed as seen in Fig. 3a. Vortex shedding fre-
quency of the wake is approximately equal to 0.3
which is one-fourth of a single cylinder case. Flow
visualizations for G=D ¼ 1:25 indicate that there are
two different flow patterns as shown in Figs. 3b and c.
Fig. 3b indicates that a wider wake flow region with
a lower shedding frequency occurs downstream of
the central cylinder and two narrow wake regions
downstream of the outer cylinders accompany this
wider wake which is symmetrical about the centerline
of the middle cylinder. The gap flows on both sides of
the central cylinder are directed towards the outer
cylinders. Deflection angles of the biased flow are
nearly identical. For the second flow pattern, two wider
wake regions downstream of the outer cylinders domi-
nate the flow. However, the wake region of one of the
cylinders is sometimes larger than that of the other
one. Similar flow patterns were also observed for the
gap ratio of G=D ¼ 1:5 with smaller deflection angles
of the biased flow around the central cylinder. Both
PIV measurements and dye visualization experiments
show that deflection angle decreases with an increase in
the gap ratio. When the gap ratio is adjusted to
G=D ¼ 2:5, Kármán type vortex shedding is observed
191
downstream of the outer cylinders as seen in Fig. 3d.
The effect of wake regions on one another is not
observed at this gap ratio and also at higher gap ratios.
The frequency of vortex shedding of each cylinder is
equal to the frequency of single cylinder.
The variation of non-dimensional vortex shedding
frequency (Strouhal number) for two side-by-side cylin-
der arrangements is shown in Fig. 4 as a function of
the gap ratio. The Strouhal number data in Fig. 4
show that two dominant vortex shedding frequencies
are detected at the same gap ratio which corresponds
to two different Strouhal numbers. The smaller fre-
quency corresponds to the vortex shedding frequency
of wider wake flow region and the bigger frequency
depicts the smaller wake’s frequency. For G=D ¼ 1:25,
the vortex shedding frequency of smaller wake is one-
third of the wider wake. The ratio of the vortex shed-
ding frequencies of narrow and wider wake decreases
when the gap ratio increases up to a value of 2.25.
Since the jet flow does not affect the vortex shedding
patterns of both cylinders for the gap ratio of 2.25, the
shedding frequency of the cylinders is the same.
In order to determine detailed information on the
flow by obtaining instantaneous flow patterns of velo-
city, vorticity and streamlines, the PIV technique was
applied to the flow field. By averaging instantaneous
images of velocity, the time-averaged velocity field and
related time-averaged vorticity and streamline topology
were obtained.
192 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
Fig. 3. Flow visualization of three side-by-side arrangement of circular cylinders.
Comparisons of the patterns of the averaged velocity
and corresponding patterns of the averaged stream-
lines, vorticity and Reynolds stress for one, two and
three side-by-side circular cylinders in contact with one
another are presented in Fig. 5. The development of
the flow fields for two and three cylinders exhibit simi-
larity to that of a single cylinder. The averaged velocity
patterns shown in Fig. 5a indicate that single wake
region occurs downstream of each cylinder. Vortex
shedding frequency of single cylinder is approximately
two times greater than that of two cylinder arrange-
ment, and three times greater than that of three side-
Fig. 4. Variation of Strouhal number with the gap ratio for two
side-by-side arrangement of cylinders.
by-side cylinder case. Significant reverse velocities
occur in the wake region and the magnitude of the
reverse velocities increases with the number of cylin-
ders. Both time-averaged velocity and streamline top-
ology indicate that two foci (F1 and F2) and one
saddle point (Sp) are evident for all the three cases.
These two foci and the saddle points are indicated in
Fig. 5b. Streamline topology also shows the size of the
wake flow region downstream of the cylinder arrange-
ments. Averaged vorticity contours are shown in
Fig. 5c. Positive vorticity (anticlockwise) and negative
vorticity (clockwise) layers are represented by solid
lines and dashed lines, respectively. For single cylinder,
the transverse spatial extent of wake region remains
relatively narrow. On the other hand, for the cases of
two and three cylinders, each vorticity layer is broadly
distributed in the transverse direction and moreover,
the central region of each layer is deflected towards the
plane of symmetry. The peak value of vorticity concen-
tration is approximately the same for all the three
cases. Fig. 5d presents the contours of dimensionless
2
Reynolds stress (normalized with U1 in which U1 is
the free-stream velocity) at the mid-plane level of the
shallow water layer. The separated shear layers, which
also correspond to vortex centerlines, from the cylin-
ders show a very high level of Reynolds stress. The
peak value of Reynolds stress is located in the reversed
flow region downstream of the cylinders and the
location of extrema of Reynolds stress is displaced on
 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197 193

Fig. 5. (a) Time-averaged velocity vector field downstream of the cylinders for G=D ¼ 1:0 in the plan view, (b) corresponding time-averaged
streamline topology, (c) patterns of averaged vorticity contours. Dashed and solid lines correspond to negative and positive vorticity, respectively.
Minimum and incremental values of vorticity are xmin ¼ 4 and Dx ¼ 2 s1 , (d) contours of normalized Reynolds stress. Dashed and solid lines
correspond to negative and positive Reynolds stress, respectively. Minimum and incremental values of Reynolds stress are ½hu0 v0 i=U1 2
min ¼ 0:01
and D½hu0 v0 i=U1
2
¼ 0:01.

the same streamwise distance with saddle point associa-
ted with the generation of intensive fluctuations in this
location for all cases. In terms of peak concentration
values for different cases, due to the stronger rotational
fluid motion in the separated layer, the peak value of
Reynolds stress for three-cylinder case is slightly higher
than that of two-cylinder case and approximately four
times higher than that of single cylinder case. Beside
the well-defined patterns of Reynolds stress for two
and three-cylinder cases, additional but weaker con-
tours are observed closer to the base of the cylinders
due to sweeping of the vorticity layers across this
region of the flow during formation of the large-scale
vortical structures, which are evident in the corre-
sponding patterns of averaged velocity [23]. As a result
of wider wake region of the three-cylinder case, con-
tours of Reynolds stress are broadly distributed in
transverse direction.
Averaged velocity vectors, streamline, vorticity and
Reynolds stress contours corresponding to the two
side-by-side circular cylinder configurations with
G=D ¼ 1:25, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 are shown in Fig. 6. Aver-
aged velocity vector image presented in Fig. 6a shows
that the flow structure of the wake is dominated by the
strong jet-like flow between two cylinders for the cases
of G=D ¼ 1:25 and 1.5. For G=D ¼ 1:25, separate vor-
tex streets are observed downstream of each cylinder.
Actually, this kind of flow behavior starts to occur for
the gap ratio higher than 1.15. Despite the geometrical
symmetry, the jet-like flow for G=D ¼ 1:25 and 1.5
cases is deflected towards the lower cylinder side which
has a narrow wake region and higher vortex shedding
frequency. However, upper cylinder has a wider wake
region and lower vortex shedding frequency. The wake
region of upper cylinder is much longer than that of
the lower cylinder and that of two-cylinder case with
G=D ¼ 1 arrangement. The deflection angle and the
streamwise extent of the wake region reduce as the gap
ratio enlarges. As mentioned previously, the bistable
nature of the flow is observed during the PIV measure-
194 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197

Fig. 6. (a) Time-averaged velocity vector field at the mid-plane for two side-by-side circular cylinders for different gap ratios in the plan view,
(b) corresponding time-averaged streamline topology, (c) patterns of averaged vorticity contours. Dashed and solid lines correspond to negative
and positive vorticity, respectively. Minimum and incremental values of vorticity are xmin ¼ 4 and Dx ¼ 2 s1 , (d) contours of normalized
Reynolds stress. Dashed and solid lines correspond to negative and positive Reynolds stress, respectively. Minimum and incremental values of
Reynolds stress are ½hu0 v0 i=U1
2 0 0 2
min ¼ 0:005 and D½hu v i=U1 ¼ 0:005.

ments and flow visualization observations. The flow
does not remain deflected towards the same cylinder
side at all times. Sometimes, deflection occurs towards
the upper cylinder side without changing the alignment
of the cylinders or the water flow speed or any other
parameter that could affect the flow structure. For
greater gap ratios (G=D > 2:0), the effect of jet-like
flow is not observed and the cylinders behave as inde-
pendent and isolated cylinders. However, some interac-
tions are observed between the two cylinder wake
regions for the gap ratio of 2.0. This interaction is
clearly seen from the Reynolds stress contours in
Fig. 6c for G=D ¼ 2:0. Averaged velocity vector fields
also indicate that as the gap ratio increases, the size of
the wake regions downstream of the cylinders decreases
to the size of the wake region of single cylinder case.
Averaged streamline and vorticity contours for differ-
ent gap ratios are depicted in Figs. 6b and c. The jet-
like flow significantly affects the vortex shedding beha-
vior downstream of the cylinder arrangements for
ratios smaller than 2.0. Elongated negative (dashed
lines) vorticity layers are evident downstream of the
upper cylinder for both G=D ¼ 1:25 and 1.5 cases. Due
to the jet-like flow and interactions of wake regions
with each other, the streamwise extend of both positive
vorticity layers of upper cylinder and negative vorticity
 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
layers of lower cylinder are shorter and both of them
are deflected toward the lower cylinder side. The peak
vorticity levels of these inner layers and the outer lay-
ers are approximately the same. On the other hand,
vorticity contours of cylinder arrangements of G=D ¼
2:0 and 2.5 are remarkably similar to the vorticity con-
tours downstream of the single cylinder. Well-defined
Kármán vortex streets are obtained and the vortex
shedding frequencies of both wakes are equal to the
shedding frequency of single cylinder. Both in-phase
and anti-phase vortex sheddings are observed at these
gap ratios. Images shown in Fig. 6d provide contours
of constant Reynolds stress as a function of gap ratio
between two cylinders. Consider, first of all, the pat-
terns of Reynolds stress for G=D ¼ 2:5. Well-defined
concentrations of Reynolds stress occur downstream of
both cylinders, which show no changes in the flow field
at this gap ratio. The observation of Reynolds stress
pattern for G=D ¼ 2:0 suggests that there is a small
modification of the flow structure. Well-defined Rey-
nolds stress concentrations occur downstream of the
upper cylinder. However, the peak concentration of the
Reynolds stress contours (especially negative contours
represented with dashed lines) of the lower cylinder is
slightly smaller compared with the peak concentrations
of upper cylinder. Decreasing values of gap ratio from
G=D ¼ 2:0 to G=D ¼ 1:25, negative concentrations of
Reynolds stress downstream of both cylinders
especially for the concentrations at the upper cylinder
gradually disappear and they are barely detectable for
G=D ¼ 1:25 arrangement as a result of the direction of
jet-like flow in that region. The peak concentration of
positive Reynolds stress occurs downstream of the
lower cylinder. The patterns of Reynolds stress close to
the base of the cylinders are not evident. The location
of the peak values of positive Reynolds stress of upper
cylinder is approximately at the same level for all gap
ratios.
Averaged velocity vectors, streamline patterns, vor-
ticity contours and Reynolds stresses are shown in
Fig. 7 for the case of three side-by-side cylinders hav-
ing the gap ratios as G=D ¼ 1:25, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5.
Despite the geometrical symmetry, images presented in
Figs. 7a and b showing the average velocity vector field
and streamline topology indicate asymmetrical flow
pattern downstream of the cylinders for the case of
G=D ¼ 1:25. A wider wake flow region downstream of
the upper cylinder and an intermediate wake down-
stream of the lower cylinder occur and a significantly
narrow wake flow region occurs downstream of the
central cylinder. However, both PIV measurements and
flow visualizations show that the region of the wider
wake is so expanded in the streamwise direction that
the reattachment point of the wake region is out of
field of view of the PIV measurements. Moreover, the
width of the wider wake flow region (transverse dis-
195
tance between separated vorticity layers) is at least two
times larger than the width of the wake region of single
cylinder. The separating shear layers from the outer
cylinders are remarkably deflected towards the wake of
the central cylinder causing significantly narrow wake
flow region downstream of the central cylinder. Deflec-
tion angle of the jet-like flow between the upper cylin-
der and the central cylinder is higher than the jet-like
flow between the lower cylinder and the central cylin-
der. When the gap ratio is increased to a value of
G=D ¼ 1:5, symmetrical flow patterns, wide wake
regions of approximately equal size behind the upper
and the lower cylinders and narrow wake region down-
stream of the central cylinder, are obtained. The size of
the wake regions which appear downstream of the cen-
tral cylinders of G=D ¼ 1:25 and 1.5 are nearly equal
to each other. Bistable flow structure was also observed
from PIV measurements and flow visualizations at this
gap ratio (G=D ¼ 1:5). A large wake flow region down-
stream of the central cylinder and narrow wake regions
behind outer cylinders are obtained. The jet-like flow
between cylinders is biased towards the outer cylinders.
Symmetric biased flow is also obtained for the gap
ratio of G=D ¼ 2:0. A similar wake structure occurs
downstream of the cylinders compared to the case of
G=D ¼ 1:5. However, the effect of jet-like flow on the
wake region downstream of the cylinders is less pro-
nounced relative to the cases of smaller gap ratios. The
reattachment length of the wake behind the central cyl-
inder is longer than that of G=D ¼ 1:5 case. It can be
concluded for G=D ¼ 2:0 arrangement that jet-like flow
has an important effect on the wake region for three
side-by-side arrangements compared to the two cylinder
arrangement. At sufficiently large G=D (G=D ¼ 2:5),
well-defined vortex sheddings downstream of the three
cylinders occur with the same vortex shedding
frequency.
Corresponding patterns of average vorticity pre-
sented in Fig. 7c show further features of the wake
regions. An asymmetrical vorticity pattern is evident
for the smallest gap ratio (G=D ¼ 1:25). Because of
decreased gap distance between the upper and the cen-
tral cylinders, an elongated negative concentrations
shed from the upper surface of the upper cylinder
occur in the case of G=D ¼ 1:25. Positive vorticity con-
tours of the outer cylinders are relatively small and are
deflected toward the wake region of the central cylin-
der. Both positive and negative vorticity contours shed
from the central cylinder are deflected toward the plane
of symmetry. When the gap ratio is increased to a
value of G=D ¼ 1:5, deflection angle decreases and
negative and positive vorticity of outer cylinders move
toward the center of symmetry of each cylinder. A
similar flow structure is obtained for G=D ¼ 2:0. How-
ever, for this case, the streamwise extent of the vor-
ticity contours of the central cylinder is longer
196 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197

Fig. 7. (a) Time-averaged velocity vector field at the mid-plane for three side-by-side circular cylinders for different gap ratios in the plan view,
(b) corresponding time-averaged streamline topology, (c) patterns of averaged vorticity contours. Dashed and solid lines correspond to negative
and positive vorticity, respectively. Minimum and incremental values of vorticity are xmin ¼ 4 and Dx ¼ 2 s1 , (d) contours of normalized
Reynolds stress. Dashed and solid lines correspond to negative and positive Reynolds stress, respectively. Minimum and incremental values of
Reynolds stress are ½hu0 v0 i=U1
2 0 0 2
min ¼ 0:005 and D½hu v i=U1 ¼ 0:005.

compared to the smaller gap ratio cases. Finally,
Kármán vortex shedding is observed behind the cylin-
ders for G=D ¼ 2:5 case.
Patterns of Reynolds stress for different gap ratios
are given in Fig. 7d. Concerning G=D ¼ 1:25 case,
negative Reynolds stress contours of the upper cylinder
are not detectable because of the direction of the jet-
like flow between the upper and the central cylinder.
As the saddle point of the upper cylinder moves far
away from the cylinder, the location of the peak
concentration of the positive Reynolds stress moves
further away from the base of the cylinder. Since the
jet-like flow does not have a remarkable effect on the
wake flow region of the upper cylinder which has a
wider wake flow region, less concentrated Reynolds
stress contours which combine with the negative con-
tours of the central cylinder are observed. That is why,
the negative Reynolds stress contours of the central
cylinder appear to be broadly distributed and elon-
gated both in streamwise and transverse direction. As
the effect of jet-like flow decreases with increasing gap
ratio, negative Reynolds stress contours of the upper
cylinder are detectable. Fig. 7d also indicates that
Reynolds stress contours of the central cylinder are
elongated in streamwise direction when the gap ratio is
increased.
 H. Akilli et al. / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 15 (2004) 187–197
4. Conclusions
The effect of gap ratio between side-by-side arranged
circular cylinders on the wake flows downstream of
two and three cylinders of equal diameter in shallow
water was characterized using PIV technique and flow
visualizations. Time-average patterns of velocity vec-
tors, vorticity and Reynolds stress contours and
streamline topology, obtained from PIV measurements,
were used to explain the physical mechanisms of the
flow downstream of the two and three side-by-side cir-
cular cylinder arrangements. Jet-like flow between
cylinders was remarkably effective for small gap ratios
(G=D  1:5) especially for the gap ratio of G=D ¼ 1:25.
It had a minor influence at moderate gap ratios
(1:5 <G=D  2:0). For larger gap ratios (G=D 2:5),
the effect of jet-like flow on the flow characteristics
behind the cylinders was negligible. Despite the sym-
metrical geometry, asymmetrical flow structures were
obtained for different arrangement of the cylinders
especially at smaller gap ratios. At G=D ¼ 1:25 2:0, the
biased flow created a narrower wake flow region with a
higher vortex shedding frequency and a wider wake
flow region with a lower vortex shedding frequency for
two-cylinder case. In the case of three side-by-side
cylinders, asymmetric flow structure was observed only
at the gap ratio of G=D ¼ 1:25. Symmetrical flow
occurred for higher gap ratios (G=D 1:5).
Bistable nature of the flow was observed especially
for the gap ratio of G=D ¼ 1:25, both for two and
three side-by-side cylinders arrangements. Without
changing any experimental conditions, the jet-like flow
changed direction and switched from one side to the
other. For example, wider wake region occurred down-
stream of upper cylinder most of the time for two-cyl-
inder case, but, sometimes wider wake occurred
downstream of the lower cylinder. Similar phenomenon
was observed for three-cylinder case. However, this bis-
table nature of the flow was not observed for the gap
ratios bigger than 1.5.
Finally, negative Reynolds stress concentrations were
barely detectable downstream of the cylinder which
had a wider wake flow region at the gap ratio of G=D
¼ 1:25 for both two and three cylinders arrangements.
Another important point is that the peak concentra-
tions of Reynolds stress occurred very close to the sad-
dle points.
References
[1] R.G. Ingram, V.H. Chu, Flow around island in Rupert Bay: an
investigation of the bottom friction effect, Journal of Geophysi-
cal Research 92 (1987) 14521–14533.
197
[2] E. Wolanski, J. Imberger, M.L. Heron, Island wakes in shallow
coastal water, Journal of Geophysical Research 89 (1984)
10553–10569.
[3] P.M. Lloyd, P.K. Stansby, D. Chen, Wake formation around
islands in oscillatory laminar shallow-water flows. Part 1.
Experimental investigation, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 429
(2001) 217–238.
[4] A.A. Kolyshkin, M.S. Ghidaoui, Stability analysis of shallow
wake flows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 494 (2003) 355–377.
[5] D. Chen, H. Jirka, Experimental study of plane turbulent wakes
in a shallow water layer, Fluid Dynamics Research 16 (1995)
11–41.
[6] P.M. Lloyd, P.K. Stansby, Shallow-water flow around model
conical island of small side slope. I: surface piercing, Journal of
Hydraulic Engineering 123 (1997) 1057–1067.
[7] H. Akilli, D. Rockwell, Vortex formation from a cylinder in
shallow water, Physics of Fluids 14 (2002) 2957–2967.
[8] S. Ishigai, E. Nishikawa, K. Nishimura, K. Cho, Experimental
study of structures of gas flow in tube banks with tube axes nor-
mal to flow (Part I, Kármán vortex flow from two tubes at vari-
ous spacing), Bulletin of the JSME 15 (1972) 949–956.
[9] P.W. Bearman, A.J. Wadcock, The interaction between a pair of
circular cylinders normal to a stream, Journal of Fluid Mech-
anics 61 (1973) 499–511.
[10] K. Kamemoto, Formation and interaction of two parallel vortex
streets, Bulletin of the JSME 19 (1976) 283–290.
[11] M. Kiya, M. Arie, H. Tamura, H. Mori, Vortex shedding from
two circular cylinders in staggered arrangement, Transactions of
ASME, Journal of Fluids Engineering 102 (1980) 166–173.
[12] C.H.K. Williamson, Evolution of a single wake behind a pair of
bluff bodies, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 159 (1985) 1–18.
[13] J.A. Jendrzejczyk, S.S. Chen, Fluid forces on two circular cylin-
ders in cross flow, in: S.S. Chen, J.C. Simonis, Y.S. Shin (Eds.)-
Flow-Induced Vibration PVP 104 Chicago, IL, 1986, pp. 1–13.
[14] H.J. Kim, P.A. Durbin, Investigation of the flow between a pair
of circular cylinders in the flopping regime, Journal of Fluid
Mechanics 196 (1988) 431–448.
[15] P. Le Gal, M.P. Chauve, R. Lima, J. Rezende, Coupled waked
behind two circular cylinders, Physical Review A 41 (1990)
4566–4569.
[16] D. Sumner, S. Wong, S.J. Price, M.P. Paidoussis, Two and three
side-by-side circular cylinders in steady cross-flow, Proceedings
of the 16th Canadian Congress of Applied Mechanics, vol. 1,
1997, pp. 273–274.
[17] H.M. Spivack, Vortex frequency and flow pattern in the wake of
two parallel cylinders at varied spacing normal to an air stream,
Journal of the Aeronautical Science 13 (1946) 289–297.
[18] C.Y. Wei, J.R. Chang, Wake and base-bleed flow downstream of
bluff bodies with different geometry, Experimental Thermal and
Fluid Science 26 (2002) 39–52.
[19] Y. Zhou, Z.J. Wang, R.M.C. So, S.J. Xu, W. Jin, Free vibra-
tions of two side-by-side cylinders in a cross-flow, Journal of
Fluid Mechanics 443 (2001) 197–229.
[20] J. Westerweel, Digital Particle Image Velocimetry, Theory and
Application, Delft University Press, 1993.
[21] D.W. Guillaume, J.C. La Rue, Investigation of the flopping
regime with two-, three- and four-cylinder arrays, Experiments
in Fluids 27 (1999) 145–156.
[22] D. Sumner, S.S.T. Wang, S.J. Price, M.P. Paidoussis, Fluid
Behavior of side-by-side circular cylinders in steady cross-flow,
Journal of Fluids and Structures 13 (1999) 309–338.
[23] A. Kahraman, B. Sahin, D. Rockwell, Control of vortex forma-
tion from a vertical cylinder in shallow water: effect of localized
roughness elements, Experiments in Fluids 33 (2002) 54–65.