Self-excited oscillations in the wake of two-dimensional bluff bodies and their control

The onset of Kármán-vortex shedding is studied experimentally in the wake of different two-dimensional bluff bodies, namely an oblong cylinder, circular cylinders and plates of rectangular cross-section. Different control measures, such as wake heating, transverse body oscillations and base bleed are investigated. As the steady-periodic Kármán shedding has previously been identified as a limit-cycle, i.e. as self-excited oscillations, the experiments are interpreted in the framework of the Stuart–Landau model. The coefficients of the Stuart–Landau equation for the characteristic vortex shedding amplitude, i.e. the linear temporal growth rate, linear frequency and the Landau constant, are fully determined for the two cylinders and in part for the plate. For this purpose transients are generated by suddenly switching transverse body oscillations or base bleed on or off. The analysis of these transients by a refined method based on complex demodulation provides reliable estimates of the model coefficients and yields an experimental validation of the concept that a global instability mode grows or decays as a whole. Also, it is demonstrated that the coefficients of the Stuart–Landau equation are independent of the experimental technique used to produce the transients.