Numerical studies of flow over a circular cylinder at Re-D=3900

Flow over a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 3900 is studied numericall y using the technique of large eddy simulation. The computations are carrie d out with a high-order accurate numerical method based on B-splines and co mpared with previous upwind-biased and central finite-difference simulation s and with the existing experimental data. In the very near wake, all three simulations are in agreement with each other. Farther downstream, the resu lts 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 o btained in the finite-difference simulations. In particular, the power spec tra of velocity fluctuations are in excellent agreement with the experiment al data. The impact of numerical resolution on the shear layer transition i s investigated. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-6631(00)0220 2-9].