Interaction between separation bubble and impinging vortices over a finite blunt plate

Abstract

In this work, the interactive process between separation bubble and impinging leading-edge vortices, which is superimposed in unsteady separated and reattaching flows over a finite blunt plate, was experimentally determined. We used an effective recognition strategy based on an offline data analysis by dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) and online DMD computation in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The approach was established for phase-locking particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the underlying vortex dynamics. The DMD mode coefficients of wall-pressure fluctuations following the temporal evolution of the corresponding unsteady events clearly reflected the interactive process, in which three consecutive impinging vortices appeared in one period of the separation bubble. The global interactive process between the separation bubble and the impinging vortices was classified into three consecutive processes: an amplification process, a transition process and a preparation process. The phase-averaged PIV measurements revealed the following: (a) During the amplification process, the separation bubble and impinging vortices are in a synchronous enlargement process beginning from the shortest position of the separation bubble atx/D=3.00. (b) In both the transition and preparation processes, the interaction was characterized by a flapping separation bubble (which enlarged in the first half of the period and then shrank in the second half of the period) and by the impinging vortices constantly shedding to the downstream region. Finally, the underlying shear layer instabilities and vortex movements of these three interactive processes were analyzed.