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Updated: Mar 30, 2026

Visually Based Characterization of the Incipient Particle Motion in Regular Substrates: From Laminar to Turbulent Conditions
Published on: February 22, 2018
Unified Strouhal-Reynolds number relationship for laminar vortex streets generated by different-shaped obstacles
1School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
Abstract:
A structure-based Strouhal-Reynolds number relationship, St=1/(A+B/Re), has been recently proposed based on observations of laminar vortex shedding from circular cylinders in a flowing soap film. Since the new St-Re relation was derived from a general physical consideration, it raises the possibility that it may be applicable to vortex shedding from bodies other than circular ones. The work presented herein provides experimental evidence that this is the case. Our measurements also show that, in the asymptotic limit (Re→∞), St(∞)=1/A≃0.21 is constant independent of rod shapes, leaving B the only parameter that is shape dependent.
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