The spatial evolution of vortices and transition to three-dimensionality in the wake of two circular cylinders in tandem arrangement have been numerically studied. An improved virtual body method developed from the virtual boundary method is used here. A Reynolds number range between 220 and 270 has been considered, and the spacing between two cylinders is selected as L/D=3 and L/D=3.5. When L/D=3, the secondary vortices of Mode-A are seen to appear at Re=240 and persist over the range of the Reynolds number of 240～270. When L/D=3.5, the similar critical Reynolds number has been found at Re=250. No obvious discontinuity has been found in the Strouhal-Reynolds number relationship, and this is different from three-dimensional flow around a single cylinder at the critical Reynolds number. The spanwise wavelength is about four times the diameter of the cylinder, and it is the characteristic wavelength for Mode-A instability. This paper can give some foremost insight into the three-dimensional instability of flow by complicated geometrical configuration.
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