Aspects of wake vortex control through base blowing/suction

Numerical simulations are used to explore the effect of blowing/suction on the characteristics of vortex shedding from a plane forebody with a rectangular base. The distribution of blowing/suction is varied to assess its role in either enhancing or suppressing the strength of shed vortices in the wake. It is shown that the amplitude of vortices in the near wake, and the required fluxes to suppress vortex shedding, scale differently depending on whether the control is exercised with blowing or with suction. These differences are rationalized in terms of local instability properties of mean velocity profiles in the near wake. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.