The initial geometry effect on collective flows, which are inherited from initial projectile structure, is studied in relativistic heavy-ion collisions of 12 C + Au by using a multi-phase transport model (AMPT). Elliptic flow (v2) and triangular flow (v3) which are significantly resulted from the chain and triangle structure of 12 C with three-α clusters, respectively, in central 12 C+ 197 Au collisions are compared with the flow from the Woods-Saxon distribution of nucleons in 12 C. v3/v2 is proposed as a probe to distinguish the pattern of α-clustered 12 C. This study demonstrates that the initial geometry of the collision zone inherited from nuclear structure can be explored by collective flow at the final stage in heavy-ion collisions.
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