On wall pressure fluctuations and their coupling with vortex dynamicsin a separate d–reattache d turbulent flow over a blunt flat plate

Abstract

This study deals with the numerical predictions through Large-Eddy Simulation ( LES ) of the separated–reattached turbulent flow over a blunt flat plate for analyzing main coherent structure features and theirrelation to the unsteady pressure field. A compressible approach that inherently includes acoustic prop- agation is here followed to describe the relationship between pressure fluctuations and vortex dynam- ics around the separation bubble. The objective of the present work is then to contribute to a betterunderstanding of the coupling between the vortex dynamics and the wall pressure fluctuations. The fil- tered compressible Navier–Stokes equations are then solved with a numerical method that follows a Lax–Wendroffapproach to recover a high accuracy in both time and space. For validations, the present numer- ical results are compared to experimental measurements, coming from both the Pprime laboratory (Sicotel al., 2012) and the literature (Cherry et al., 1984; Kiya and Sasaki, 1985; Tafti and Vanka,1991; Sicotet al., 2012). Our numerical results very well predict mean and fluctuating pressure and velocity fields.Flapping, shedding as well as Kelvin–Helmholtz characteristic frequencies educed by present simulationsare in very good agreement with the experimental values generally admitted. These characteristic modesare also visible on unsteady pressure signatures even far away from the separation. Spectral, POD andEPOD (extended POD) analyses are then applied to these numerical data to enhance the salient featuresof the pressure and velocity fields, especially the unsteady wall pressure in connection with either thevortex shedding or the low frequency shear-layer flapping. A contribution to the understanding of thecoupling between wall pressure fluctuations and eddy vortices is finally proposed.