PIV study of the flow around a 5:1 rectangular cylinder at moderate Reynolds numbers and small incidence angles

This work comes within the framework of the "Benchmark on the Aerodynamics of a Rectangular Cylinder" that investigates a rectangular cylinder of length-to-depth ratio equal to 5. The present study reports and discusses velocity fields acquired using planar Particle Image Velocitmetry for several angles of attack and Reynolds numbers. In particular, for a cylinder depth-based Reynolds number of 2x104 and zero incidence angle, the flow features along the lateral (parallel to the freestream) upper and lower surfaces of the cylinder are reported. Using first and second order statistics of the velocity field, the main flow features are discussed, especially the size and location of the time-averaged flow structures and the distribution of the Reynolds stresses. The variation of the flow features with the incidence is also studied considering angles of attack up to 6°. It is shown that the time-averaged flow is fully detached for incidence higher than 2°. For an angle of attack of 0°, the effects of the Reynolds number varying between 5x103 and 2x104 are investigated looking at flow statistics. It is shown that the time averaged location of the reattachment point and the shape and position of the time-averaged main vortex are mostly constant with the Reynolds number. However, the size of the inner region located below the time-averaged shear layer and just downstream the leading edge corner appears to be strongly dependent on the Reynolds number.