A numerical analysis of unsteady separated flow by the discrete vortex method combined with the singularity method

Abstract An innovative numerical method is described, which was developed to analyze unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on a structure in a separated flow. In this method, the flow around the structure is assumed to be a potential flow except in the region of free shear layers, and the region and the structure are represented by discrete vortices. This method is applied to calculations of the lift and drag coefficients and the Strouhal numbers for a stationary and a transversely oscillating square prism. The calculated results are compared with the experimental data, and a good agreement is shown.