Transitions of flow past a row of square bars

Abstract

Transitions of flow past a row of square bars placed across a uniform flow are investigated by numerical simulations and the bifurcation analysis of the numerical results. The flow is assumed two-dimensional and incompressible. It is already known that jets coming through gaps between square bars are independent of each other when the pitch-to-side-length ratio of the row is large, whereas the confluence of two or three jets occurs due to a first pitchfork bifurcation from the flow with independent jets when the pitch-to-side-length ratio is small. It is found that confluence of four jets occurs in consequence of the second pitchfork bifurcation from the flow with pairs of jets joined to each other. Bifurcation diagrams of the flow are obtained, which include confluences of double, triple and quadruple jets. Lengths of the twin vortices are evaluated for each flow pattern. The confluences of two, three and four jets are qualitatively confirmed experimentally by flow visualizations.