Abstract
Flow visualization is used to interrogate the wake structure produced by a rigid flat panel of aspect ratio (span/chord) 0.54 pitching in a free stream at a Strouhal number of 0.23. At such a low aspect ratio, the streamwise vorticity generated by the plate tends to dominate the formation of the wake. Nevertheless, the wake has the appearance of a three-dimensional Kármán vortex street, as observed in a wide range of other experiments, and consists of horseshoe vortices of alternating sign shed twice per flapping cycle. The legs of each horseshoe interact with the two subsequent horseshoes in an opposite-sign, then like-sign interaction in which they become entrained. A detailed vortex skeleton model is proposed for the wake formation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 433-443 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Fluid Mechanics |
| Volume | 546 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 10 2006 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering
- Applied Mathematics