Analysis of the separated flow around a 5:1 rectangular cylinder through computational simulation

The aim of this paper is to provide a contribution to the analysis of the 3D, high Reynolds number, turbulent, separated and reattached flow around a fixed sharp-edged rectangular cylinder with a chord-to-depth ratio equal to 5. The present computational study is developed in the frame of the Benchmark on the Aerodynamics of a Rectangular Cylinder (BARC). First, the adopted flow modelling and computational approach are described. Second, some of the 2D mechanisms that are responsible for the variation of the fluctuating pressure on the side surface are scrutinised: the computational approach post-processing facilities are employed to point out the flow structures which mainly affect the vortex formation and shedding past the separation point and to look for significant relationships between them and the pressure field on the cylinder side surface.