Low Reynolds number flow over a square cylinder with a splitter plate

Flows over a square cylinder of side length D with and without a splitter plate are numerically investigated at a Reynolds number of 150. The length of the splitter plate is varied systematically from L=0.5D to L=6D so the sensitivity of the flow structure to the inclusion of the splitter plate can be inspected. It is found that the splitter plate introduces a strong hydrodynamic interaction to the near wake of the cylinder and the length of the plate affects significantly the flow structure. The behavior of the flow can be grouped into three regimes. For short plate lengths (0≲L≲D), the free shear layers are convected further downstream before rolling up when the plate length is increased. For intermediate plate lengths (1.25D≲L≲4.75D), a secondary vortex is clearly visible around the trailing edge of the splitter plate and the shear layers begin to roll up closer to the trailing edge. For long plate lengths (L≳5D), a regime is observed in which the free shear layers reattach to the splitter plate. The study also proposes the minimum wake half-width as the length scale for a possible universal Strouhal number, which is found to be valid for 0≤L≤4D.