Study on forced shear flow by a oscillating spoiler

Abstract

In the present paper, numerical solution of the two-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations is used to study the forced shear flow induced by a spoiler's periodical up and down oscillation on a flat plate. The paper studies the evolution of growing, shedding, merging and decaying of vortices due to the spoiler's oscillation, particularly the dependence of the forced shear flow on the reduced frequency. Results show that the reduced frequency is a key factor in controlling the growing and the shedding of vortices in the shear layer. The instantaneous streamlines and the equi-vorticity contours, as well as the surface pressure distributions, have also been investigated. Numerical results agree well with corresponding experimental ones. The study is helpful for understanding the physical mechanism of shear flow control.