Three-dimensional flow separation over a surface-mounted hemisphere in pulsatile flow

Flow separation over a surface-mounted obstacle is prevalent in numerous applications. Previous studies of 3D separation around protuberances have been limited to steady flow. In biological and geophysical flows, pulsatile conditions are frequently encountered, yet this situation has not been extensively studied. Primarily motivated by our previous studies of the flow patterns observed in various human vocal fold pathologies such as polyps, our research aimed to fill this gap in the knowledge concerning unsteady 3D flow separation. This is achieved by characterizing velocity fields surrounding the obstacle, focused primarily on the vortical flow structures and dynamics that occur around a hemispheroid in pulsatile flow. As part of this study, two-dimensional, instantaneous and phase-averaged particle image velocimetry data in both steady and pulsatile flows are presented and compared. Coherent vortical flow structures have been identified by their swirling strength. This analysis revealed flow structures with dynamics dependent on the pulsatile forcing function. A mechanism to explain the formation and observed dynamics of these flow structures based on the self-induced velocity of vortex rings interacting with the unsteady flow is proposed.