On vortex shedding from a hexagonal cylinder

The unsteady wake behind a hexagonal cylinder in cross-flow is investigated numerically. The time-dependent three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved for three different Reynolds numbers Re and for two different cylinder orientations. The topology of the vortex shedding depends on the orientation and the Strouhal frequency is generally higher in the wake of a face-oriented cylinder than behind a corner-oriented cylinder. For both orientations a higher Strouhal number St is observed when Re is increased from 100 to 500 whereas St is unaffected by a further increase up to Re = 1000. The distinct variation of St with the orientation of the hexagonal cylinder relative to the oncoming flow is opposite of earlier findings for square cylinder wakes which exhibited a higher St with corner orientation than with face orientation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.