Kármán vortex street

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In fluid dynamics, a Kármán

vortex street (or a von Kármán
vortex street) is a repeating pattern
of swirling vortices, caused by a
process known as vortex shedding,
which is responsible for the unsteady
separation of flow of a fluid around
Visualisation of the vortex street behind a circular cylinder in air;
blunt bodies. the flow is made visible through release of glycerol vapour in the
air near the cylinder
It is named after the engineer and
fluid dynamicist Theodore von
Kármán,[1] and is responsible for
such phenomena as the "singing" of suspended telephone or power lines and the vibration of a car
antenna at certain speeds. Mathematical modeling of von Kármán vortex street can be performed
using different techniques including but not limited to solving the full Navier-Stokes equations
with k-epsilon, SST, k-omega and Reynolds stress, and large eddy simulation (LES) turbulence
models,[2][3] by numerically solving some dynamic equations such as the Ginzburg-Landau
equation, [4][5][6] or by use of a bicomplex variable.[7]

Analysis
A vortex street will form only at a
certain range of flow velocities,
specified by a range of Reynolds
numbers (Re), typically above a
limiting Re value of about 90. The
(global) Reynolds number for a flow
is a measure of the ratio of inertial to
viscous forces in the flow of a fluid
around a body or in a channel, and
may be defined as a nondimensional
parameter of the global speed of the
Animation of vortex street created by a cylindrical object; the flow
whole fluid flow:
on opposite sides of the object is given different colors, showing
that the vortices are shed from alternating sides of the object

where:

= the free stream flow speed (i.e. the flow speed far from the fluid boundaries like the
body speed relative to the fluid at rest, or an inviscid flow speed, computed through the
 Bernoulli equation), which is the original global flow
parameter, i.e. the target to be non-dimensionalised.
= a characteristic length parameter of the body or
channel
= the free stream kinematic viscosity parameter of the
fluid, which in turn is the ratio:

A look at the Kármán vortex street

effect from ground level, as air flows
quickly from the Pacific ocean
between: eastward over Mojave desert
mountains. This phenomenon
observed from ground level is
= the reference fluid density. extremely rare, as most cloud-
= the free stream fluid dynamic viscosity related Kármán vortex street activity
is viewed from space.
For common flows (the ones which can usually be considered
as incompressible or isothermal), the kinematic viscosity is
everywhere uniform over all the flow field and constant in
time, so there is no choice on the viscosity parameter, which
becomes naturally the kinematic viscosity of the fluid being
considered at the temperature being considered. On the other
hand, the reference length is always an arbitrary parameter, so
particular attention should be put when comparing flows
around different obstacles or in channels of different shapes:
the global Reynolds numbers should be referred to the same
reference length. This is actually the reason for which the most A vortex street in a 2D liquid of hard
precise sources for airfoil and channel flow data specify the disks
reference length at the Reynolds number. The reference length
can vary depending on the analysis to be performed: for a body
with circle sections such as circular cylinders or spheres, one usually chooses the diameter; for an
airfoil, a generic non-circular cylinder or a bluff body or a revolution body like a fuselage or a
submarine, it is usually the profile chord or the profile thickness, or some other given widths that
are in fact stable design inputs; for flow channels usually the hydraulic diameter about which the
fluid is flowing.

For an aerodynamic profile the reference length depends on the analysis. In fact, the profile chord
is usually chosen as the reference length also for aerodynamic coefficient for wing sections and
thin profiles in which the primary target is to maximize the lift coefficient or the lift/drag ratio (i.e.
as usual in thin airfoil theory, one would employ the chord Reynolds as the flow speed parameter
for comparing different profiles). On the other hand, for fairings and struts the given parameter is
usually the dimension of internal structure to be streamlined (let us think for simplicity it is a
beam with circular section), and the main target is to minimize the drag coefficient or the drag/lift
ratio. The main design parameter which becomes naturally also a reference length is therefore the
profile thickness (the profile dimension or area perpendicular to the flow direction), rather than
the profile chord.

The range of Re values varies with the size and shape of the body from which the eddies are shed,
as well as with the kinematic viscosity of the fluid. For the wake of a circular cylinder, for which the
reference length is conventionally the diameter d of the circular cylinder, the lower limit of this
range is Re ≈ 47.[8][9] Eddies are shed continuously from each side of the circle boundary, forming
rows of vortices in its wake. The alternation leads to the core of a vortex in one row being opposite
the point midway between two vortex cores in the other row, giving rise to the distinctive pattern
shown in the picture. Ultimately, the energy of the vortices is consumed by viscosity as they move
further down stream, and the regular pattern disappears. Above the Re value of 188.5, the flow
becomes three-dimensional, with periodic variation along the cylinder.[10] Above Re on the order
of 105 at the drag crisis, vortex shedding becomes irregular and turbulence sets in.

When a single vortex is shed, an asymmetrical flow pattern forms around the body and changes
the pressure distribution. This means that the alternate shedding of vortices can create periodic
lateral (sideways) forces on the body in question, causing it to vibrate. If the vortex shedding
frequency is similar to the natural frequency of a body or structure, it causes resonance. It is this
forced vibration that, at the correct frequency, causes suspended telephone or power lines to "sing"
and the antenna on a car to vibrate more strongly at certain speeds.

In meteorology
The flow of atmospheric air over obstacles such as islands or isolated
mountains sometimes gives birth to von Kármán vortex streets. When a
cloud layer is present at the relevant altitude, the streets become visible.
Such cloud layer vortex streets have been photographed from
satellites.[11] The vortex street can reach over 400 km from the obstacle
and the diameter of the vortices are normally 20–40 km.[12]

Engineering problems
In low turbulence, tall buildings can
produce a Kármán street, so long as the
structure is uniform along its height. In
urban areas where there are many other
tall structures nearby, the turbulence Kármán vortex street
produced by these prevents the caused by wind flowing
formation of coherent vortices.[13] around the Juan
Simulated vortex street around a Periodic crosswind forces set up by Fernández Islands off
no-slip cylindrical obstruction vortices along object's sides can be the Chilean coast
highly undesirable, due to the vortex-
induced vibrations caused, which can
damage the structure, hence it is important for engineers to
account for the possible effects of vortex shedding when
designing a wide range of structures, from submarine periscopes
to industrial chimneys and skyscrapers. For monitoring such
engineering structures, the efficient measurements of von
The same cylinder, now with a Kármán streets can be performed using smart sensing algorithms
fin, suppressing the vortex street such as compressive sensing.[2]
by reducing the region in which
the side eddies can interact In order to prevent the unwanted vibration of such cylindrical
bodies, a longitudinal fin can be fitted on the downstream side,
which, provided it is longer than the diameter of the cylinder, will
prevent the eddies from interacting, and consequently they remain attached. Obviously, for a tall
building or mast, the relative wind could come from any direction. For this reason, helical
projections resembling large screw threads are sometimes placed at the top, which effectively
create asymmetric three-dimensional flow, thereby discouraging the alternate shedding of
vortices; this is also found in some car antennas. Another countermeasure with tall buildings is
using variation in the diameter with height, such as tapering - that prevents the entire building
being driven at the same frequency.
Even more serious instability can be created in concrete
cooling towers, especially when built together in clusters.
Vortex shedding caused the collapse of three towers at
Ferrybridge Power Station C in 1965 during high winds.

The failure of the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge was

originally attributed to excessive vibration due to vortex
shedding, but was actually caused by aeroelastic flutter.

Kármán turbulence is also a problem for airplanes, especially

when landing.[14][15]

Formula
This formula will generally hold true for the range 250 < Red <
200000:

Chimneys with strakes fitted to

break up vortices

where:

f = vortex shedding frequency.

d = diameter of the cylinder
U = flow velocity.

This dimensionless parameter St is known as the Strouhal number and is named after the Czech
physicist, Vincenc Strouhal (1850–1922) who first investigated the steady humming or singing of
telegraph wires in 1878.

History
Although named after Theodore von Kármán,[16][17] he acknowledged[18] that the vortex street had
been studied earlier by Arnulph Mallock[19] and Henri Bénard.[20] Kármán tells the story in his
book Aerodynamics:[21]

...Prandtl had a doctoral candidate, Karl Hiemenz, to whom he gave the task of
constructing a water channel in which he could observe the separation of the flow
behind a cylinder. The object was to check experimentally the separation point
calculated by means of the boundary-layer theory. For this purpose, it was first
necessary to know the pressure distribution around the cylinder in a steady flow. Much
to his surprise, Hiemenz found that the flow in his channel oscillated violently. When
he reported this to Prandtl, the latter told him: 'Obviously your cylinder is not circular.'
However, even after very careful machining of the cylinder, the flow continued to
oscillate. Then Hiemenz was told that possibly the channel was not symmetric, and he
started to adjust it. I was not concerned with this problem, but every morning when I
came in the laboratory I asked him, 'Herr Hiemenz, is the flow steady now?' He
answered very sadly, 'It always oscillates.'
In his autobiography, von Kármán described how his discovery was inspired by an Italian painting
of St Christopher carrying the child Jesus whilst wading through water. Vortices could be seen in
the water, and von Kármán noted that "The problem for historians may have been why
Christopher was carrying Jesus through the water. For me it was why the vortices". It has been
suggested by researchers that the painting is one from the 14th century that can be found in the
museum of the San Domenico church in Bologna.[22]

See also
Eddy (fluid dynamics) – Swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a
turbulent flow regime
Kelvin–Helmholtz instability – Phenomenon of fluid mechanics
Reynolds number – Ratio of inertial to viscous forces acting on a liquid
Vortex shedding – Oscillating flow effect resulting from fluid passing over a blunt body
Vortex-induced vibration – Motions induced on bodies within a fluid flow due to vortices in the
fluid
Coandă effect – Tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface

References
1. Theodore von Kármán, Aerodynamics. McGraw-Hill (1963): ISBN 978-0-07-067602-2. Dover
(1994): ISBN 978-0-486-43485-8.
2. Bayındır, Cihan; Namlı, Barış (2021). "Efficient sensing of von Kármán vortices using
compressive sensing". Computers & Fluids. 226: 104975. arXiv:2005.08325 (https://arxiv.org/a
bs/2005.08325). doi:10.1016/j.compfluid.2021.104975 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.compfluid.
2021.104975). S2CID 234828962 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:234828962).
3. Amalia, E.; Moelyadi, M. A.; Ihsan, M. (2018). "Effects of Turbulence Model and Numerical
Time Steps on von Karman Flow Behavior and Drag Accuracy of Circular Cylinder". Journal of
Physics: Conference Series. 1005 (1): 012012. Bibcode:2018JPhCS1005a2012A (https://ui.ad
sabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018JPhCS1005a2012A). doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1005/1/012012 (http
s://doi.org/10.1088%2F1742-6596%2F1005%2F1%2F012012). S2CID 126372504 (https://api.
semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:126372504).
4. Albarède, P., & Provansal, M. Quasi-periodic cylinder wakes and the Ginzburg–Landau model.
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 291, 191-222, 1995.
5. Farazande, S. and Bayindir, C., The Interaction of Von Kármán Vortices with the Solitons of the
Complex GinzburgLandau Equation. International Conference on Applied Mathematics in
Engineering (ICAME) September 1–3, 2021 - Balikesir, Turkey
6. Monkewitz, P. A., Williamson, C. H. K. and Miller, G. D., Phase dynamics of Kármán vortices in
cylinder wakes. Physics of Fluids, 8, 1, 1996.
7. Kleine, Vitor G.; Hanifi, Ardeshir; Henningson, Dan S. (2022). "Stability of two-dimensional
potential flows using bicomplex numbers" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9185
835). Proc. R. Soc. A. 478 (20220165). arXiv:2203.05857 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.05857).
Bibcode:2022RSPSA.47820165K (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022RSPSA.47820165
K). doi:10.1098/rspa.2022.0165 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspa.2022.0165). PMC 9185835
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9185835). PMID 35702595 (https://pubmed.nc
bi.nlm.nih.gov/35702595).}
8. Jackson, C.P. (1987). "A finite-element study of the onset of vortex shedding in flow past
variously shaped bodies". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 182: 23–45.
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