Active Control of Bluff-Body Flows Using Plasma Actuators

Actuators play an important role in modern active flow control technology. Dielectric barrier discharge plasma can be used to induce localized velocity perturbations in air, so as to accomplish modifications to the global flow field. This paper presents a selective review of applications from the published literature with emphasis on interactions between plasma-induced perturbations and original unsteady fields of bluff-body flows. First, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)-plasma actuator characteristics, and the local disturbance fields these actuators induce into the exterior flow, are described. Then, instabilities found in separated flows around bluff bodies that controlled actuation should target at are briefly presented. Key parameters for effective control are introduced using the nominally two-dimensional flow around a circular cylinder as a paradigm. The effects of the actuator configuration and location, amplitude and frequency of excitation, input waveform, as well as the phase difference between individual actuators are illustrated through examples classified based on symmetry properties. In general, symmetric excitation at frequencies higher than approximately five times the uncontrolled frequency of vortex shedding acts destructively on regular vortex shedding and can be safely employed for reducing the mean drag and lift fluctuations. Antisymmetric and symmetric excitation at low frequencies of the order of the natural frequency can amplify the wake instability and increase the mean and fluctuating aerodynamic forces, respectively, due to vortex locking-on to the excitation frequency or its subharmonics. Results from several studies show that the geometry and arrangement of the electrodes is of utmost significance. Power consumption is typically very low, but the electromechanical efficiency can be optimized by input waveform modulation.

Verification of Length Scale Effects on Solution Accuracy of Hybrid RANS-LES Methods

Hybrid RANS-LES methods are gaining popularity for the simulation of the complex bluff body flows at high Reynolds numbers due to their reduced computational cost and good accuracy. A number of such methods have been proposed in the literature. Each of these methods have enjoyed varying degree of success for different applications. One of the most important parameter which determines the switching between near-wall RANS region and off-body LES region is the length scale parameter. This parameter can be grid based or physics based and numerous choices exist for defining this parameter. This study proposes to investigate the effect of this parameter on the size of the RANS and LES regions and also on the solution accuracy. Four test problems are chosen covering attached, mildly separated and massively separated flow regimes. Results will help us to identify length scale definitions to be used for different flow scenarios.

Wall-resolved wavelet-based adaptive large-eddy simulation of bluff-body flows with variable thresholding

The wavelet-based eddy-capturing approach with variable thresholding is extended to bluff-body flows, where the obstacle geometry is enforced through Brinkman volume penalization. The use of a spatio-temporally varying threshold allows one to perform adaptive large-eddy simulations with the prescribed fidelity on a near optimal computational mesh. The space–time evolution of the threshold variable is achieved by solving a transport equation based on the Lagrangian path-line diffusive averaging methodology. The coupled wavelet-collocation/volume-penalization approach with variable thresholding is illustrated for a turbulent incompressible flow around an isolated stationary prism with square cross-section. Wavelet-based adaptive large-eddy simulations supplied with the one-equation localized dynamic kinetic energy-based model are successfully performed at moderately high Reynolds number. The present study demonstrates that the proposed variable thresholding methodology for wavelet-based modelling of turbulent flows around solid obstacles is feasible, accurate and efficient.

Wavelet-based adaptive simulations of three-dimensional flow past a square cylinder

The wavelet-based eddy capturing approach is extended to three-dimensional bluff body flows, where the flow geometry is enforced through Brinkman volume penalization. The wavelet-collocation/volume-penalization combined method is applied to the simulation of vortex shedding flow behind an isolated stationary prism with square cross-section. Wavelet-based direct numerical simulation is conducted at low supercritical Reynolds number, where the wake develops fundamental three-dimensional flow structures, while wavelet-based adaptive large-eddy simulation supplied with the one-equation localized dynamic kinetic-energy-based model is performed at moderately high Reynolds number. The present results are in general agreement with experimental findings and numerical solutions provided by classical non-adaptive methods. This study demonstrates that the proposed hybrid methodology for modelling bluff body flows is feasible, accurate and efficient.