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.