The flow around a surface mounted cube: a characterization by time-resolved PIV, 3D Shake-The-Box and LBM simulation

Abstract

Abstract The flow around a surface mounted cube with incoming turbulent or laminar boundary layer has been topic of many experimental and numerical investigations in the past decades. Despite its simple geometry the flow generates a set of complex vortical structures in front and around the cube, includes flow separation at the three front plane edges with corresponding subsequent shear layer dynamics enveloping recirculation zones. Downstream of the cube a large unsteady flow separation region is present which is associated with typical quasi-periodic bluff-body wake dynamics. Therefore the flow configuration is well suited to enhance the understanding of similar unsteady and separated flow phenomena in many aerodynamic and engineering applications. In the present experimental investigation we aim at resolving a large spectrum of spatial and temporal scales in the flow around a cube with incoming laminar and turbulent boundary layers by using the most recent developments of dense 3D Lagrangian particle tracking (LPT) and high resolution TR-PIV for Reynolds numbers based on cube size in the range $$\text {Re}_H = U_\infty \,H\,\nu ^{-1} = 2000 - 8000$$ Re H = U ∞ H ν - 1 = 2000 - 8000 . The results documented in the present paper consist of snapshots and the analysis of long time-series of highly resolved 3D and 2D velocity fields suited to enhance the understanding of coherent structure dynamics and of corresponding statistical Lagrangian and Eulerian flow properties. Premultiplied velocity spectra and 3D pressure distributions are calculated and discussed as well. Finally, the measurement data is compared to results obtained with a simulation based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Graphic abstract