The effect of gravity on flow past a semi-circular cylinder with a constant pressure wake

Abstract

The flow past a semi-cylinder with a trailing wake region is considered. In the absence of gravity the only known high Reynolds number solutions have tangential separation from the body and a cusped shape at the back of the wake. This flow can be a simple model for several situations, including the classical approximation of a constant pressure wake and the flow past an object with a region of trapped fluid of different density (or an air cavity) attached on the downstream side. Here we relax the assumption of high flow speeds to examine the effects of gravity. It is shown that there are situations in which a stagnation point can form either on the body or at the tail of the wake and that there is a minimum velocity beneath which a cavity will not form. Non-uniqueness in the parameter space is found in certain cases.