Abstract
A laboratory water channel experiment was made of the separated flow over a backward-facing step. The flow was excited by a sinusoidally oscillating jet issuing from a separation line. The slit was connected to a cavity in which water was forced through a rigid pipe by a scotch-yoke system. The Reynolds number based on the step height (H) was fixed at Re H =1200. The forcing frequency was varied in the range 0.305?St H ?0.955 at the forcing amplitude A 0=0.3. Time-averaged flow measurements were made by a LDV system, especially in the recirculating region behind the backward-facing step. To characterize the large-scale vortex evolution due to the local forcing, flow visualizations were performed by a dye tracer method with fluorescent ink. The vortex amalgamation process was captured at the effective forcing frequency (St H =0.477) for laminar separation. This vortex merging process enhances flow mixing, which leads to the shortening of the reattachment length.
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Received: 17 March 1997 / Accepted: 31 December 1997
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Chun, K., Sung, H. Visualization of a locally-forced separated flow over a backward-facing step. Experiments in Fluids 25, 133–142 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003480050217
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003480050217