Near Field Development of Planar Wakes Under the Effect of Asymmetric Initial Conditions

Abstract

This paper reports an experimental investigation on the response of a planar wake past a flat plate to various upstream flow conditions. A tripping wire was placed on the upper side of the flat plate downstream the leading edge which resulted in asymmetric boundary layers. The near wake asymmetry was compared to their symmetrical counterpart at two different Reynolds numbers. The near wake dynamics were investigated using hotwire anemometry and flow visualizations. Selfsimilarity of the asymmetrical wakes was established. Asymmetry seemed to have the largest effect on the convection velocity of the large structures in the asymmetric laminarturbulent wake.