The flow around the three-dimensional blunt geometry presented in the work of Ahmed, Ramm & Faitin (Tech. Rep., 1984) is investigated experimentally at $\mathit{Re}= {U}_{0} H/ \nu = 9. 2\times 1{0}^{4} $ (where ${U}_{0} $ is free-stream velocity, $H$ the height of the body and $\nu $ viscosity). The very large recirculation on the base responsible for the dominant part of the drag is characterized. The analyses of the coherent dynamics of the wake reveal the presence of two very distinctive time scales. At long time scales ${T}_{l} \sim 1{0}^{3} H/ {U}_{0} $, the recirculation region shifts between two preferred reflectional-symmetry-breaking positions leading to a statistically symmetric wake; the sequence of these asymmetric states is random. This bi-stable behaviour is independent of the Reynolds number but occurs only above a critical value of ground clearance. At short time scales ${T}_{s} \sim 5H/ {U}_{0} $, the wake presents weak coherent oscillations in the vertical and lateral directions. They are respectively associated with the interaction of the top/bottom and lateral shear layers; when normalized by the height and width of the body, the Strouhal numbers are close to 0.17. These results suggest an alternate shedding associated with the vertical oscillation and a one-sided vortex shedding in the lateral direction with an orientation linked to the current asymmetric position. Finally, the impact of these coherent wake motions on the base pressure is discussed to motivate further drag reduction strategies.

The turbulent wake past parallelepiped bodies with a rectangular blunt trailing edge of height H and width W is investigated in wall proximity: various aspect ratios H* = H/W ∈ [0.51, 1.63] and ground clearances C* = C/W ∈ [0, 1.00] are explored at a Reynolds number of 4.5 × 104 based on the body width W. Base pressure measurements and particle image velocimetry show that the close wake often undergoes antisymmetric instabilities that can be either in the lateral direction (parallel to the wall) or in the vertical direction (normal to the wall). The instantaneous wake presents preferred states with high degrees of asymmetry; in some configurations, topology shifts are observed after long time scales Tl ∼ 103W/U0 leading to bistable behaviors. The effect of ground proximity is thoroughly studied for H* = 0.74 corresponding to the reference Ahmed geometry and for a case with a height dimension larger than its width H* = 1/0.74 = 1.34. When C* > 0.08, it is found that the Ahmed body is bistable in the lateral direction while the wake past the second geometry develops an instability in the vertical direction. In both cases, the instabilities vanish for sufficiently small values of ground clearance (C* < 0.08) which are associated with the apparition of a detachment of the underbody flow on the ground. However, the wall proximity does not necessarily stabilize the wake in the plane of symmetry since the flow retrieves the bi-stability in the lateral direction for C* < 0.03 and H* < 0.65. A general criterion for the existence of the instabilities is deduced from the parametric study in the domain (H*, C*) together with symmetry considerations.

Experimental observation of a permanent reflectional symmetry breaking (RSB) is reported for a laminar three-dimensional wake. Based on flow visualizations, a first bifurcation from the trivial steady symmetric state to a steady RSB state is characterized at Re=340. The RSB state becomes unsteady after a second bifurcation at Re=410. It is found that this RSB regime is persistent at large Reynolds numbers and is responsible for a bistable turbulent wake.

The sensitivity of the flow around three-dimensional blunt geometry is investigated experimentally at Reynolds number $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}9.2\times 10^4$. Vertical and horizontal control cylinders are used to disturb the natural flow which is the superposition of two reflectional symmetry breaking states (see Part 1 of this study, Grandemange, Gohlke & Cadot, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 722, 2013b, pp. 51–84). When the perturbation breaks the symmetry of the set-up, it can select one of the two asymmetric topologies so that a mean side force is found. When the reflectional symmetry is preserved, some positions of horizontal and vertical control cylinders alter the natural bi-stability of the flow which may result in drag reduction. In addition, it is found that the horizontal perturbation affects the lift force especially when the top and bottom mixing layers are disturbed. The ability of the disturbances to suppress the bi-stable behaviour is discussed and, introducing a formalism of induced drag, a quantification of the impact on the drag of the cross-flow forces observed for the natural bi-stable wake is suggested. Finally, a general concept for a control strategy of separated flows past three-dimensional bluff bodies can be drawn up from these analyses.

Effect on drag of the flow orientation at the base separation of a simplified blunt road vehicle. Abstract The separated flow past the square-back model used in the experiments of Ahmed et al. [1] is controlled using flaps at the end of the top and bottom faces. A parametric study of the flow regarding the slant angle of the flaps is performed from pressure and force measurements as well as particle image velocimetry (PIV). When the bottom flap orientation is fixed, variations of the top slant angle evidence a drag versus lift quadratic dependence. This relationship presents self similarities changing the bottom flap angle.It is then observed that the lift is an affine function of both slant angles and the force a second order polynomial containing a coupling term between the two angles. These drag evolutions varying both angles are discussed and interpreted as contributions of the wake size, a drag induced by the lift and a local drag induced by the inclination of the flaps.