Control of the flow around a finite-height square cylinder with slot blowing near its free-end side edges

This paper describes an active control technique that uses symmetric downward slot blowing from the free-end side edges of a finite-height square cylinder to suppress the aerodynamic forces. The width (d) of the tested cylinder is 40 mm and the aspect ratio H/d is 5. The Reynolds number based on the oncoming flow velocity U∞ and d is 2.67 × 104. The tested blowing ratio Cb (=Ub/U∞, where Ub is the blowing velocity at the slot exit) ranges from 0 to 4, and two typical included angles of θ = 5° and 45° are considered. The experimental results indicate that free-end slot blowing effectively suppresses the aerodynamic forces on the cylinder. The maximum reduction in the aerodynamic forces occurs with θ = 5° and Cb = 3.0, whereupon the mean drag, fluctuating drag, and fluctuating lateral force are reduced by 6.80%, 48.52%, and 69.38%, respectively. Furthermore, slot blowing control introduces a strong downward entrainment into the near wake of the cylinder, weakening its spanwise vortex shedding. This successfully converts the alternating spanwise vortex shedding into symmetric shedding, especially near the free end from which the downward blowing issues.