Numerical studies of flow over a circular cylinder at ReD=3900

Flow over a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 3900 is studied numerically using the technique of large eddy simulation. The computations are carried out with a high-order accurate numerical method based on B-splines and compared with previous upwind-biased and central finite-difference simulations and with the existing experimental data. In the very near wake, all three simulations are in agreement with each other. Farther downstream, the results of the B-spline computations are in better agreement with the hot-wire experiment of Ong and Wallace [Exp. Fluids 20, 441-453 (1996)] than those obtained in the finite-difference simulations. In particular, the power spectra of velocity fluctuations are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. The impact of numerical resolution on the shear layer transition is investigated. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-6631(00)02202-9].