Leading Edge Separation From a Blunt Plate at Low Reynolds Number

Abstract

The flow over a blunt plate aligned parallel to the stream was visualized using dye tracers. A leading edge separation bubble was observed to form at a Reynolds number based on plate thickness of 100. The steady, laminar separation bubble on a long plate, L/t ≥ 8, grows in size with increasing Reynolds number reaching a maximum streamwise length at Ret = 325. The separated shear layer becomes unsteady and the bubble shrinks in size with further increases in Reynolds number. The leading and trailing edge separation zones on short plates, L/t ≤ 4, may combine to form a large recirculation pocket.