Three-dimensional Bluff Bodies Research Articles

Equilibrium of fluid fluxes in the wake of a three-dimensional flat-back bluff body

Equilibrium of fluid fluxes in the wake of a three-dimensional flat-back bluff body

Experimental investigation of rear flexible flaps interacting with the wake dynamics behind a squareback Ahmed body

We have conducted an experimental study on the use of rear flexible vertical flaps as adaptive solutions to reduce the drag of a squareback Ahmed body, and on the fluid–structure interaction mechanisms at the turbulent wake. To that aim, wind tunnel experiments were conducted to compare the performance of various configurations including the baseline body, the body with rigid flaps and with flexible flaps. These configurations were tested under different aligned and cross-flow conditions. The results reveal that the flexible adaptive devices effectively reduce the drag within for low values of the dimensionless stiffness quantified through the Cauchy number, Ca. Thus, the two-dimensional deformation of the flexible flaps, which undergo progressive inwards reconfiguration (with an averaged tip deflection angle of Θ≃4°), reduces the bluffness of the flow separation at the body base, thus shrinking the recirculation region. This reconfiguration leads to increased base pressure, resulting into a 8.3% decrease in the global drag, CD, under aligned conditions. Similar drag reductions are observed under yawed conditions.Two regimes are identified in terms of the coupled fluid–structure dynamics. For low Ca, the passive reconfiguration of the flaps include small amplitude, periodic oscillations corresponding to the first free deformation mode of a cantilevered beam. Alongside these weak oscillations, the flaps are deformed guided by the changes in the value of the horizontal base pressure gradient, depicting bi-stable behavior which is caused by the synchronization between the Reflectional Symmetry Breaking (RSB) mode, typically present in the wake of three-dimensional bluff bodies, and the flaps deformation. For higher values of Ca, the flexible flaps deflect inwardly by about Θ≃20° on average, but exhibit vigorous oscillations combining the first and second free deformation modes of a cantilevered beam. These large amplitude oscillations excite the flow separation at the model’s trailing edges, leading to significant fluctuations in the separated shear layers and a consequent 31% increase in the global drag. Under yawed conditions, the flaps responses for large values of Ca are different due to the asymmetry of the corresponding recirculation region.

Reconstructing Three-Dimensional Bluff Body Wake from Sectional Flow Fields with Convolutional Neural Networks

Reconstructing Three-Dimensional Bluff Body Wake from Sectional Flow Fields with Convolutional Neural Networks

Passive control of flow-induced vibration of a sphere using a trip wire

We experimentally investigated the potential of a trip wire as a passive control mechanism for controlling flow-induced vibration (FIV) of a three-dimensional bluff body. The effect of a surface trip wire was investigated for varying diameter ratio in the range 1.3×10−2⩽k/D⩽6.7×10−2, where k is the wire diameter and D is the sphere diameter, and trip-wire location in the range 20∘≤ϕ≤60∘, where the angle ϕ was measured from the leading stagnation point. The FIV response of the sphere is characterised for a wide range of reduced velocities 3⩽U∗⩽20, defined as U∗=U/fnwD, where U is the free stream velocity and fnw is the natural frequency of the system in water. It was found that for a fixed trip-wire diameter ratio, the vibration amplitude decreased progressively with increasing ϕ. Furthermore, the synchronisation regime became narrower, and the mode II and the plateau branches of the FIV response occurred for lower reduced velocities, compared to those for a smooth sphere. The control was highly effective for high reduced velocities (U∗>10) with a maximum reduction of up to 97.8% for ϕ=60∘. Interestingly, thicker trip wires (k/D>1.3×10−2) were effective in disrupting Mode I, but induced a galloping-like response for higher reduced velocities. Tripping proved to be an effective passive control strategy for spheres, with the optimal trip-wire size varying across Mode I to Mode III.

Mean Reattachment Length of Roof Separation Bubbles Using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition

Investigating flow separation regions on the surfaces of three-dimensional bluff bodies in turbulent flows is important because these regions can induce significant aerodynamic loads. Separation bubbles can generate extreme pressures, making the roof components of low-rise buildings vulnerable. In this study, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was applied to wind-induced roof pressures to elucidate the physical significance of the dominant modes. Based on the interpretation of the first mode from the POD, the mean reattachment length of the roof separation bubbles on a low-rise building model in turbulent flow was determined. The mean reattachment length derived from the POD was then compared with the length obtained from an aerodynamic database. For the centerline of the roof, the mean reattachment length based on the POD aligned well with that from the aerodynamic database, showing a difference of less than 5%. This study highlights the efficacy of POD as a powerful tool for estimating the reattachment length of separation bubbles on bluff bodies.

Base suction, entrainment flux, and wake modes in the vortex formation region at the rear of a three-dimensional blunt bluff body.

A slitted base cavity of constant depth with a varying filling ratio 0≤R_{f}≤100% is experimentally investigated to reduce the form drag of a three-dimensional blunt body (the so-called squareback Ahmed body) at a Reynolds number Re=2.89×10^{5}. The drag reduction is achieved by a decrease of base suction (or, equivalently, the increase of pressure at the base). The plain cavity (R_{f}=100%) reduces the base suction by 22% compared to the case with no cavity (R_{f}=0). All intermediate filling ratio are obtained by the enlargement of the slits, initially having a zero width for the plain cavity case. It is shown that the gradual base suction change can be related to the level of the entrainment flux of the free shear layers developing from the rear separation and to the suppression of the transverse steady asymmetric instability of the wake. The model of the vortex formation region length of Gerrard [J. Fluid Mech. 25, 401 (1966)0022-112010.1017/S0022112066001721] is shown to provide an insightful interpretation of the drag reduction mechanism using ventilated base cavities.

Reynolds number effect on the bistable dynamic of a blunt-base bluff body.

A three-dimensional blunt-base bluff body in a uniform flow is subjected to long-time stochastic dynamics of switching between two opposite wake states. This dynamic is investigated experimentally within the Reynolds number range Re ≃10^{4}-10^{5}. Long-time statistics coupled to a sensitivity analysis to the body attitude (defined as the pitch angle of the body with respect to the incoming flow) show that the wake switching rate decreases as Re increases. Equipping the body with passive roughness elements (turbulators) modifies the boundary layers before separation, seen as the inlet condition for the wake dynamic. Depending on their location and Re, the viscous sublayer length scale and the turbulent layer thickness can be modified independently. This sensitivity analysis to the inlet condition shows that a decrease of the viscous sublayer length scale at a given turbulent layer thickness leads to a decrease in the switching rate, whereas the modification of the turbulent layer thickness has almost no effect on the switching rate.

A hierarchical autoencoder and temporal convolutional neural network reduced-order model for the turbulent wake of a three-dimensional bluff body

We propose a novel reduced-order model and examine its applicability to the complex three-dimensional turbulent wake of a generic square-backed bluff body called the Ahmed body at the Reynolds number ReH = U∞H/ν = 9.2 × 104 (where U∞ is free-stream velocity, H the height of the body, and ν viscosity). Training datasets are obtained by large eddy simulation. The model reduction method consists of two components—a Visual Geometry Group (VGG)-based hierarchical autoencoder (H-VGG-AE) and a temporal convolutional neural network (TCN). The first step is to map the high-dimensional flow attributes into low-dimensional features, namely latent modes, which are employed as the input for the second step. The TCN is then trained to predict the low-dimensional features in a time series. We compare this method with a TCN based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), which utilizes time coefficients as the input in the second part. It turns out that the H-VGG-AE has a lower reconstruction error than POD when the number of latent modes is relatively small in the first part. As the number of latent modes increases, POD exceeds in the performance of model reduction. However, the H-VGG-AE-based TCN is still more effective in terms of spatiotemporal predictions because it has a lower prediction error and costs much less time.

Deep reinforcement learning for active control of a three-dimensional bluff body wake

The application of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to train an agent capable of learning control laws for pulsed jets to manipulate the wake of a bluff body is presented and discussed. The work has been performed experimentally at a value of the Reynolds number Re∼105 adopting a single-step approach for the training of the agent. Two main aspects are targeted: first, the dimension of the state, allowing us to draw conclusions on its effect on the training of the neural network; second, the capability of the agent to learn optimal strategies aimed at maximizing more complex tasks identified with the reward. The agent is trained to learn strategies that minimize drag only or minimize drag while maximizing the power budget of the fluidic system. The results show that independently on the definition of the reward, the DRL learns forcing conditions that yield values of drag reduction that are as large as 10% when the reward is based on the drag minimization only. On the other hand, when also the power budget is accounted for, the agent learns forcing configurations that yield lower drag reduction (5%) but characterized by large values of the efficiency. A comparison between the natural and the forced conditions is carried out in terms of the pressure distribution across the model's base. The different structure of the wake that is obtained depending on the training of the agent suggests that the possible forcing configuration yielding similar values of the reward is local minima for the problem. This represents, to the authors' knowledge, the first application of a single-step DRL in an experimental framework at large values of the Reynolds number to control the wake of a three-dimensional bluff body.

Nonlinear feedback control of bimodality in the wake of a three-dimensional bluff body

The turbulent wake behind a square-back Ahmed body in close proximity to the ground exhibits bimodal switching. This manifests as the center of the wake randomly switching side-to-side between one of two asymmetric positions. This work is the first attempt to employ nonlinear model-based feedback control to suppress this wake bimodality. High fidelity simulations are used to develop and implement the control strategy and investigate the resulting effect on the wake and aerodynamic drag.

Wake bifurcations behind two circular disks in tandem arrangement

The flow over two three-dimensional bluff bodies in tandem arrangement is widely encountered in both natural environments and engineering applications. Here we perform a detailed numerical investigation on the wake bifurcations behind two axisymmetric bluff bodies in tandem. Our study explores the overall range of Re between 100 - 500 and the separation distance $S/d$=1, 2, 4, and 6. Seven main wake regimes are identified, and detailed wake bifurcation scenarios depending on Re and the separation distance are provided.

On three-dimensional bluff body wake symmetry breaking with free-stream turbulence and residual asymmetry

On three-dimensional bluff body wake symmetry breaking with free-stream turbulence and residual asymmetry

Tracking the flapping motion of flow separation using pointwise measurement

In recent investigations of the unsteadiness of flow separation, time-resolved whole-field information, such as the temporal variation of reverse flow area and proper orthogonal decomposition modes, is commonly used to quantify the flapping motion of separation bubbles. In the present study, we explore the possibility of tracking the flapping motion of flow separation using only pointwise measurements. A generalized framework for designing the optimal number and positions of measurement points is presented and assessed using time-resolved particle image velocimetry measurement data for turbulent flow separations induced by a broad range of two- and three-dimensional surface-mounted bluff bodies. Two models are proposed to approximate the temporal variation of reverse flow area over the bluff bodies. These two models require only the mean reattachment length, mean velocity at the body height in the oncoming flow, and time-resolved single- or two-point measurements of streamwise velocity. The optimal location for the single-point model is in the rear part of the mean separation bubble around the highest elevation of the mean separating streamline. While the single-point model predicts the temporal variation of reverse flow area reasonably well, it consistently misidentifies the subdominant frequency of reverse flow area as the dominant one. For the two-point model, one measurement point is in the rear part of the mean separation bubble and the other measurement point is slightly downstream of the mean reattachment point. The two-point model reproduces the temporal variation as well as the dominant frequency of reverse flow area remarkably well. Overall, the present study proposes a simple and reliable method to track the temporal variation of reverse flow area and holds promise for the future development of active closed-loop flow control based on real-time flapping motion of separation bubbles.

Effects of Jet Induced by String-type Plasma Actuator on Flow Around Three-Dimensional Bluff Body and Drag Force

An experimental investigation of active flow control on a three-dimensional (3D) curved surface bluff body was conducted by using a string-type plasma actuator. The 3D bluff body model tested in this study was composed of a quarter sphere and a half cylinder, and the Reynolds number based on the diameter of half cylinder was set at 1.3 × 104. The modulation drive was adopted for flow control, and the control effects of variations in dimensionless burst frequency (fm+) normalized by the width of the model and freestream velocity were studied. Velocity distributions analyzed by particle image velocimetry showed that the recirculation region behind the model shrank due to the flow control. The static pressure distributions on the back surface of the model tended to decrease under any fm+ set in this study, especially in the ranges of 0.40 ≤ fm+ ≤ 0.64. The drag coefficient reached its maximum value under the similar ranges of fm+. Although the aerodynamic wake sharpening was observed due to the flow control, the entrainment of separated flow into the back surface of the model was enhanced. This scenario of wake manipulation was considered to be responsible for increasing drag acting on the model.

Simulations of the bi-modal wake past three-dimensional blunt bluff bodies

The bi-modal behaviour of the turbulent flow past three-dimensional blunt bluff bodies is simulated using wall-resolved large eddy simulations. Bi-modality (also called bi-stability) is a phenomenon that occurs in the wakes of three-dimensional bluff bodies. It manifests as a random displacement of the wake between preferred off-centre locations. Two bluff bodies are considered in this work: a conventional square-back Ahmed body representative of road cars, and a simplified lorry, which is taller than it is wide, with its aspect ratio corresponding to a 15 % European lorry scale model. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the asymmetric bi-modal switching behaviour of the wake, observed experimentally, has been captured in simulations. The resulting unsteady flow fields are then analysed, revealing instantaneous topological changes in the wake experiencing bi-modal switching. The best-resolved case, the simplified lorry geometry, is then studied in greater detail using modal decomposition to gain insights into the energy content and the dominant frequencies of the wake flow structures associated with the asymmetric states. High-frequency snapshots of the switching sequence allow us to propose that large hairpin vortices are responsible for the triggering of the switching.

Conical vortices investigation and mitigation over the ski-jump ramp of an aircraft carrier by PIV

An aircraft carrier is characterized by a combination of bluff bodies with sharp edges. The most notable effect of a three-dimensional bluff body flow is the usual presence of a complex vortex system in the wake that could affect the aircraft operation. Conical vortex with high intensity is expected to appear at Wind Over Deck different to 0° (WOD ≠ 0°). Hence, experimental tests at WOD = ± 15° have been developed to study these adverse effects which might influence the aircraft performances during landing and take-off operations.Columnar vortex generators (CVG) have been installed in the ski-jump ramp with the aim to mitigate the vortices generated. This device is an appropriate choice considering earlier investigation reported by different authors (Landman et al., 2005; Nangia and Lumsden, 2004). Interesting results were obtained with a CVG 15 mm spiral parameter and reduced angle between the CVG and the ski-jump ramp floor where all three CVG's were of different lengths depending on their positions. Wind tunnel tests measurements by means of particle image velocimetry has been performed to study each configuration. Encouraging results were obtained to mitigate the conical vortices generated at this condition.

Two-dimensionalization of a three-dimensional bluff body wake

The three-dimensional flow characteristics of a circular cylinder with synthetic jet control are numerically studied using large eddy simulation. The Reynolds number based on the diameter of the cylinder is Re = 500. The control effects and underlying mechanism are revealed to show how the synthetic jet changes the three-dimensional wake pattern. Analysis of the dynamic control process indicates that the blowing stroke helps the shear layer to assemble vorticity, and then, the suction stroke accelerates the detachment of the concentrated vorticity. The vortex shedding process will be gradually dominated by symmetric actuation of the synthetic jets. Thus, the asymmetric vortex shedding mode could be changed into a symmetric mode several periods after actuation at certain excitation frequencies, leading to significant suppression of lift fluctuations. A periodic pressure variation at the leeward surface of the circular cylinder caused by the changes of the separation point for the flow over a circular cylinder and recirculation region results in a large drag fluctuation. The excitation phase influences only the control process, but not the final state, while the excitation frequency plays an important role in the formation of different wake patterns. It is also found that the synthetic jet can completely suppress the formation of streamwise vortices due to the three-dimensional instability suppression and reduce the deformation of spanwise vortices, resulting in a conversion of the original three-dimensional flow into a two-dimensional one. Such two-dimensionalization can be achieved for both asymmetric and symmetric wake patterns, indicating that it is not influenced by the excitation phase and frequency as long as the actuation is two-dimensional.

Modelling and feedback control of vortex shedding for drag reduction of a turbulent bluff body wake

Three-dimensional bluff body wakes are of key importance due to their relevance to the automotive industry. Such wakes have both large pressure drag and a number of coherent flow structures associated with them. Depending on the geometry, these structures may include both a bistability resulting from a spatial symmetry breaking (SB), and a quasi-periodic vortex shedding. The authors have recently shown that the bistability may be modelled by a Langevin equation and that this model enables the design of a feedback control strategy that efficiently reduces the drag through suppression of asymmetry. In this work the stochastic modelling approach is extended to the vortex shedding, capturing qualitatively both the forced and unforced behaviour. A control strategy is then presented that makes use of the frequency response of the wake, and aims to reduce the measured fluctuations associated with the vortex shedding. The strategy proves to be effective at suppressing fluctuations within specific frequency ranges but, due to amplification of disturbances at other frequencies, is unable to give drag reduction.

Multi-scale analysis on wake structures of asymmetric cylinders with different aspect ratios

The wake flow originated by three-dimensional bluff bodies having the different aspect ratio is experimentally studied in this paper. The turbulent wakes generated by asymmetric- and semi-cylinders were first measured by the high-speed PIV. The time-averaged and instantaneous flow structures were analyzed in various planes. Then, the orthogonal wavelet multi-resolution technique was used to analyze the multi-scale flow structures. The instantaneous vorticity and Reynolds shear stresses of various frequencies were evaluated and compared among the different aspect ratio and body shape. It was found that the asymmetric-cylinder produces the aerodynamic downforce and its separation region is smaller than that of semi-cylinder. The large-scale structure makes the most contribution to vorticities, and the intermediate-scale structure dominates the flow structures near the tip of body. The large-scale structure makes the most contribution to Reynolds shear stress except the tip of body, accounting for about 55.9–79.2%. The maximum value of large-scale Reynolds shear stress appears at the end of separation region, and the small-scale Reynolds shear stress exhibits the maximum value in the shear layer of the body surface.

Stochastic modelling and feedback control of bistability in a turbulent bluff body wake

A specific feature of three-dimensional bluff body wakes, flow bistability, is a subject of particular recent interest. This feature consists of a random flipping of the wake between two asymmetric configurations and is believed to contribute to the pressure drag of many bluff bodies. In this study we apply the modelling approach recently suggested for axisymmetric bodies by Rigaset al.(J. Fluid Mech., vol. 778, 2015, R2) to the reflectional symmetry-breaking modes of a rectilinear bluff body wake. We demonstrate the validity of the model and its Reynolds number independence through time-resolved base pressure measurements of the natural wake. Further, oscillating flaps are used to investigate the dynamics and time scales of the instability associated with the flipping process, demonstrating that they are largely independent of Reynolds number. The modelling approach is then used to design a feedback controller that uses the flaps to suppress the symmetry-breaking modes. The controller is successful, leading to a suppression of the bistability of the wake, with concomitant reductions in both lateral and streamwise forces. Importantly, the controller is found to be efficient, the actuator requiring only 24 % of the aerodynamic power saving. The controller therefore provides a key demonstration of efficient feedback control used to reduce the drag of a high-Reynolds-number three-dimensional bluff body. Furthermore, the results suggest that suppression of large-scale structures is a fundamentally efficient approach for bluff body drag reduction.