Characteristic Flow Field Behind a Square-Cylinder Using Upstream Mesh Fences

The flow behaviors around a square cylinder were modulated using the passive mesh fence. The effects of Reynolds number (Re) and rotation angle (θ) on the square-cylinder flow fields using different turbulence intensity (TI) were also investigated. Additionally, various steel mesh fences with different mesh densities were installed between the nozzle outlet and the test-section inlet to adjust the free-stream TI. The Reynolds number and turbulence intensity used in this investigation are 3.0 × 10⁴ ≤ Re ≤ 1.0 × 10⁵ and 0.32% ≤ TI ≤ 0.82%. The flow fields are visualized using the surface oil-flow visualization scheme. Furthermore, the flow patterns are classified as—leading-edge bubble, separation bubble, separation, leading-edge separation, and boundary-layer attached modes. Specifically, the leading-edge bubble mode does not exist while θ and TI are low. Moreover, a hot-wire anemometer was placed in the wake to detect the vortex-shedding frequency. The experimental results indicate that Strouhal number (St) decreases with increasing the free-stream TI while TI < 0.45%. However, St approaches a constant as TI > 0.45%. Furthermore, the surface pressure was detected using a pressure scanner and the drag coefficient (C_D) was obtained using the surface-pressure profile. The experimental results also reveal that C_D decreases with increasing the free-stream TI. However, the change rate of C_D for TI < 0.45% exceeds that for TI > 0.45%.