Onset of Vortex Shedding in a Periodic Array of Circular Cylinders

Hopf bifurcation of steady base flow and onset of vortex shedding over a transverse periodic array of circular cylinders is considered. The influence of transverse spacing on critical Reynolds number is investigated by systematically varying the gap between the cylinders from a small value to large separations. The critical Reynolds number behavior for the periodic array of circular cylinders is compared with the corresponding result for a periodic array of long rectangular cylinders considered in [Balanchandar, S., and Parker, S. J., 2002, “Onset of Vortex Shedding in an Inline and Staggered Array of Rectangular Cylinders,” Phys. Fluids, 14, pp. 3714–3732]. The differences between the two cases are interpreted in terms of differences between their wake profiles.