Large-eddy simulations of the flow over a deep cavity are performed. The computations reproduce identically all the parameters of the experiment by Forestier and co-workers [J. Fluid Mech. (to be published)], including the high Reynolds number ReL=8.6×105. Spectra show an accurate prediction of the peak levels of the fundamental frequency and its first harmonics. Results are also analyzed both in terms of Reynolds and phase averages, the procedure used to compute phase averages being identical to the one used during the experiment. Agreement with the experimental data is found to be excellent. The expansion rate of the shear layer is accurately described, and the temporal physics of the flow, including the dynamics of the coherent structures, is fully recovered. By comparison with an auxiliary computation wherein the wind-tunnel upper wall is not taken into account, the cavity is found to oscillate in a flow-acoustic resonance mode. New values for the γ constant of Rossiter’s model are then proposed for a deep cavity resulting in an accurate prediction of the pressure peak frequencies.

Large-eddy simulations of a cavity configuration yielding a mean flow that exhibits spanwise asymmetry are carried out. Results from the computations reveal that the asymmetry is due to a bifurcation of the whole flow field inside the cavity. It is demonstrated that the bifurcation originates in an inviscid confinement effect induced by the lateral walls. The branch of the bifurcation can be selected by slightly altering the incoming mean flow. Further investigations show that underlying steady spanwise modulations of velocity are amplified under the influence of the lateral walls. The modulation of the streamwise velocity component has the largest energy content and its dominant wavelength contaminates both vertical velocity and pressure. Complementary to these linear interactions, nonlinear energy transfers from streamwise velocity to pressure are also found. A transient analysis highlights the stiff transition from a symmetrical two-structure non-bifurcated flow to a stable unsymmetrical one-and-a-half-structure bifurcated flow. The switch to the bifurcated flow induces an alteration of the Rossiter aero–acoustic loop yielding a change in the dominant Rossiter mode and the appearance of a nonlinear harmonic of the first mode.

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