Flow around a cylinder is important in the motion of microorganisms found in biological viscoelastic fluids that propel themselves by flagella. Flow around a cylinder experiments are difficult to perform because of the influence of the walls and ends. An approach was developed to measure the drag on a cylinder by correcting for wall and end effects. Cylinders were vertically dipped into fluids in an annular shaped tank, which was rotated to generate a flow. The force acting on a cylinder was measured using a custom force transducer. This method was used for a Newtonian fluid and two Boger fluids. The drag of the Boger fluids was several times that of an equivalent Newtonian fluid. A cavity was observed to develop behind the cylinders once the flow surpassed a critical velocity. Streakline images taken during the experiment confirmed the presence of a wake region behind the cylinders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/32289 |
| Date | 26 March 2012 |
| Creators | Wang, Edwin Shao Wen |
| Contributors | James, David F. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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