Manipulation of the flow induced by afterbody vortices using sweeping jets

In this study, the impact of oscillatory fluids on the flow induced by afterbody vortices, resembling those of a high-speed train, was investigated in wind tunnel experiments. The afterbody vortices were generated by a cylindrical model with a slanted base at Reynolds numbers ranging from 87 000 to 200 000. A fluidic oscillator was utilized to produce sweeping jets (SWJ) acting on the vortical flow, which is similar to those observed over the rear of a typical high-speed train. Our particle image velocimetry measurements on cross-stream planes reveal that the oscillatory flow produced by the sweeping jet significantly reduces the magnitude of induced flow, resulting in a 17.7% and 15.9% decrease in the total velocity and horizontal slipstream, respectively, at a velocity ratio of 6.4. This is attributed to the injection of the kinetic energy of sweeping jets into the core of the afterbody vortices, which leads to a higher dispersion of vorticity and incoherent energy distributions. The iso-surfaces of resultant velocities reveal that the fluid injection by the sweeping jet increased local velocities, resulting in a spanwise shrinkage of the induced velocity structure downstream. The study demonstrates the capability of sweeping jets in decreasing induced flow by manipulating afterbody vortices and their potential for reducing the slipstream produced by high-speed trains at the tracksides.