Effect of inclined angle on a wall-mounted finite-height square cylinder with a passive vertical suction

Abstract

Drilling a vertical cavity from the bottom to the free-end surface has been a passive method of controlling wake flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder. The mean flow field around a wall-mounted finite-height square cylinder with a vertical rectangular cavity was studied experimentally in a water tunnel to explore the effects of inclined angle α. Measurements were conducted using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter at the Reynolds number of Reh = 17,525, in which the incidence angles of the cylinder were α = 0, 10°, 30°, and 45°. Results depict the presence of a recirculation zone in the cavity and a near-wake zone. As α increases from 0 to 10°, the mean wake behind the cylinder shifts in the opposite position, and a single peak is observed. When α changes from 10° to 45°, the mean wake regains its symmetry, and two peaks are observed at the wake. Self-similarity in terms of the streamwise velocities and Reynolds shear stress can be achieved by properly selecting the velocity and length scales irrespective of the angle of incidence. For the wake flow with a higher value of α, the length of the mean recirculation zone, momentum exchange, and turbulence kinetic energy increase, whereas the mean and variance values of the vortex shedding frequency reach a smaller one. In this study, the cavity flow and wake flow are also observed in terms of velocity distribution, turbulent kinetic energy budget, and turbulent events.