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Lattice Boltzmann modeling of backward-facing step flow controlled by a synthetic jet

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Abstract

This article investigates the effect of a synthetic jet (SJ) on the flow over a backward-facing step (BFS) in the weakly turbulent flow regime using the lattice Boltzmann method. The SJ operates with various momentum coefficients Cμ and forcing frequencies f *jet . As Cμ increases, the reattachment length decreases, whereas increasing f *jet causes the reattachment length at first decrease and then increase. A minimum reattachment length appears at Cμ = 0.3125, f *jet = 1.6, corresponding to a 40% reduction compared with the uncontrolled case. Two mechanisms for the mediated flow are found: (1) A suitable control frequency leads to a lock-on state that prompts vertical momentum transfer and laminarizes the flow near the separation point, (2) Regular vortices emerge after wall reattachment in controlled cases. Fast Fourier and wavelet transform of the velocity near the separation point reveal that the monitored frequency becomes locked-on when f *jet > 1.6, making the flow quasi-periodic and dramatically reducing the reattachment length. Turbulent kinetic energy spectra indicate that the monitored frequencies are dominated by the forcing frequency and that active control laminarizes the local flow. Proper orthogonal decomposition is used to extract coherent structures at multiple scales. In the dominant mode, reattaching wake vortices are regulated by active control. In the second mode, irregular wake vortices emerge after f *jet = 2, which attenuates the SJ forcing and increases the reattachment length. This study provides insights on typical flows past a BFS and will shed more light on the design of closed-loop control strategies for separation flows.

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Acknowledgements

roject supported by the Innovative Research Foundation of Ship General Performance (Grant No. 31122122), the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2023-YBGY-389), the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing City (Grant No. cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0394) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 3102021HHZY030002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Tian-yang Lu, Hai-bao Hu, Jian Song, Fan Zhang, Heng Zhang, Zhen-lin Xie & Feng Ren

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  1. Tian-yang Lu
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  2. Hai-bao Hu
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  3. Jian Song
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  4. Fan Zhang
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  6. Zhen-lin Xie
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  7. Feng Ren
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Correspondence to Feng Ren.

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Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Feng Ren is an editorial board member for the Journal of Hydrodynamics and was not involved in the editorial review, or the decision to publish this article. All authors declare that there are no other competing interests.

Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Project supported by the Innovative Research Foundation of Ship General Performance (Grant No. 31122122).

Biography: Tian-yang Lu (2000-), Male, Master

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Lu, Ty., Hu, Hb., Song, J. et al. Lattice Boltzmann modeling of backward-facing step flow controlled by a synthetic jet. J Hydrodyn 35, 757–769 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-023-0049-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-023-0049-4

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