The effect of sound on vortex shedding from cylinders

The influence of a transverse sound wave on vortex shedding from a rigid circular cylinder in a duct has been explored at Reynolds numbers from 20000 to 40000. In the absence of sound, the vortex shedding is found to consist of strings of coherent cyclic events which have frequencies that wander randomly about the nominal vortex-shedding frequency. Application of sound at the vortex-shedding frequency eliminates this wander and correlates the shedding along the cylinder axis. The frequency of vortex shedding can be shifted by sound applied either above or below the nominal vortex-shedding frequency. This entrainment is produced by the velocity induced by the sound wave rather than by the sound pressure. These phenomena are also observed in tube rows.