Distribution of local pressure and skin friction around a circular cylinder in cross-flow up to Re = 5 × 106

In a large range of Reynolds numbers, 6 × 10 4 < Re < 5 × 10 6 , the flow around single cylinders with smooth surfaces has been investigated. The high values of the Reynolds numbers were obtained in a test channel which could be pressurized up to 40 bar of static pressure. New experiments were performed to measure the local pressure and skin friction distribution around the cylinder. From these results the total drag, the pressure drag and the friction drag were calculated. By means of the skin friction distribution the position of the separation points, separation bubbles or transition points can be localized. These data allow one to define three states of the flow: the subcritical flow, where the boundary layer separates laminarly; the critical flow, in which a separation bubble, followed by a turbulent reattachment, occurs; and the supercritical flow, where an immediate transition from the laminar to the turbulent boundary layer is observed at a critical distance from the stagnation point. According to the total drag coefficient the values found in this paper connect the subcritical region represented by the measurements of Wieselsberger (1923) and Fage & Warsap (1930) with the supercritical range in which Roshko (1961) carried out his experiments.