Isothermal and non-premixed turbulent reacting wake flows past a two-dimensional square cylinder

Abstract The present work describes the study of turbulent wake flows past two-dimensional square cylinders with and without (air or fuel) jet injection into the vortex formation region under isothermal and reacting conditions. An experimental investigation provided detailed measurements of turbulent velocities, temperatures and related statistics obtained by Laser Velocimetry and thin digitally compensated thermocouples. Both isothermal, plane or air-injected and reacting wakes were measured to assess the effect of combustion on the wake aerodynamics.In the numerical work the periodic isothermal wakes and the quasi-periodic reacting wakes were successfully calculated with a 2D time-dependent Navier–Stokes procedure that encompasses aspects from both the LES formalism and the conventional k − e procedures. Within the framework of this approach large scale active structures are distinguished both on the basis of their character deterministic or random as well as on their size while taking into account the percentage contribution of the vortical structure energy in the total fluctuating energy budget.