Coherent Structures and Flow Topology of Transitional Separated-Reattached Flow over Two and Three Dimensional Geometrical Shapes

Large-scale organized motions (commonly referred to coherent structures) and flow topology of a transitional separated-reattached flow have been visualised and investigated using flow visualisation techniques. Two geometrical shapes including two-dimensional flat plate with rectangular leading edge and three-dimensional square cylinder are chosen to shed a light on the flow topology and present coherent structures of the flow over these shapes. For both geometries and in the early stage of the transition, two-dimensional Kelvin-Hehnholtz rolls are formed downstream of the leading edge. They are observed to be twisting around the square cylinder while they stay flat in the case of the two-dimensional flat plate. For both geometrical shapes, the two-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz rolls move downstream of the leading edge and they are subjected to distortion to fonn three-dimensional hairpin structures. The flow topology in the flat plate is different from that in the square cylinder. For the flat plate, there is a merging process by a pairing of the Kelvin-Helmholtz rolls to form a large structure that breaks down directly into many hairpin structures. For the squire cylinder case, the Kelvin-Helmholtz roll evolves topologically to form a hairpin structure. in the squire cylinder case, the reattachment length is much shorter and a forming of the three-dimensional structures is closer to the leading edge than that in the flat plate case.