Unsteady heat transfer from a circular cylinder for Reynolds numbers from 3000 to 15,000

Unsteady heat transfer from a circular cylinder to the cross-flow of air was investigated experimentally for Reynolds numbers from 3000 to 15,000. Fluctuating heat transfer on the cylinder surface was measured using a heat flux sensor, and time-spatial characteristics of the heat transfer were measured using an infrared thermograph. The present measurements showed that the alternating rolling-up of the shear layers that separated from the cylinder forms an alternating reattached flow at the rear of the cylinder in the range of Re>5000–8000, due to the forward movement of the vortex formation region with increasing Reynolds number. This leads to a sharp increase in the time-averaged Nusselt number around the rear stagnation point of the cylinder. The heat transfer in the separated flow region has spanwise nonuniformity throughout the examined Reynolds number range. The wavelength of this nonuniformity corresponds to that of the streamwise vortices formed in the near-wake.