Effect of the wavy geometric disturbance on the flow over elliptic cylinders with different aspect ratios

The present study investigates the effect of the wavy geometric disturbance as the flow control on the flow around elliptic cylinders with different aspect ratios at low Reynolds number of 100. The wide ranges of the wavelength (1.0 <= lambda/L-m,L-x <= 8.0) and the aspect ratio of the ellipse (0.5 <= AR <= 1.0) are considered, where L-m,L-x is the streamwise mean body length. For AR = 1.0 with the circular cross-section, the flow strongly depends on lambda/L-m,L-x, resulting in the appearance of various flow structures. As AR decreases, the flow bifurcation occurs at the certain conditions of AR and lambda/L-m,L-x. Therefore, the bifurcation map is presented in AR -lambda/L-m,L-x plane, where flows are classified as three modes of the unsteady, steady and coexistence states. There are two effects of the waviness and the streamlined body on the flow bifurcation. At the large AR s in AR > 0.6, the bifurcation early occurs from the long wavelengths, which is associated to two types of the streamwise vorticities. In AR <= 0.6, the effect of the streamlined body on the flow overcomes the wavy geometric disturbance, resulting in undergoing the bifurcation, regardless of lambda/L-m,L-x. Additionally, force coefficients and the Strouhal number are analyzed to understand the dependence of hydrodynamic performance and vortex shedding on AR and lambda/L-m,L-x.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effects of wavy geometric disturbance on flow around elliptic cylinders with different aspect ratios at low Reynolds numbers. The influence of aspect ratios and wavelengths on flow structures is significant, resulting in the classification of flow states in a bifurcation map.