Direct numerical simulations on the flow

past a thin square plate

Cite as: Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0039595
Submitted: 04 December 2020 . Accepted: 17 February 2021 . Published Online: 23 March 2021

Yakun Zhao (赵亚坤 ), Song Gao (高颂 ), Xiantao Zhang (张显涛 ), Xiaoxian Guo (郭孝先 ), Xin Li (李欣 ), and
Xinliang Tian (田新亮 )

ARTICLES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

Numerical investigation on vortex-induced vibration suppression of the cactus-inspired

cylinder with some ribs
Physics of Fluids 33, 037127 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0043185

Large-eddy simulation of flow past a circular cylinder for Reynolds numbers 400 to 3900
Physics of Fluids 33, 034119 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0041168

Dynamic mode decomposition based analysis of flow past a transversely oscillating cylinder
Physics of Fluids 33, 033604 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0042391

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128

© 2021 Author(s).
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

Direct numerical simulations on the flow past

a thin square plate
Cite as: Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Submitted: 4 December 2020 . Accepted: 17 February 2021 .
Published Online: 23 March 2021

Yakun Zhao (赵亚坤),1,2 Song Gao (高颂),3 Xiantao Zhang (张显涛),1,2 Xiaoxian Guo (郭孝先),1,2 Xin Li (李欣),1,2
and Xinliang Tian (田新亮)1,2,a)

AFFILIATIONS
1
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
2
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Technology, Sanya 572000, China
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA

a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: tianxinliang@sjtu.edu.cn

ABSTRACT
Direct numerical simulations are performed to investigate the flow around an inclined thin square plate with a chord length-thickness aspect
ratio of L/td ¼ 50. The plate is inclined around its axis of symmetry in two approaches, which are denoted as the IS (lines connecting the mid-
points of opposite edges) and IL (diagonal lines) conditions, respectively. The inclination angle (a) is considered between 0 and 60 , where

a ¼ 0p refers to the condition that the flow is normal to the plate. The Reynolds number (Re) based on the equivalent diameter
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
(ld ¼ 4L2 cos a=p) is in the range of 50  Re  350. In the considered Re-a space, four flow regimes, namely, steady state, periodic state,
quasi-periodic state, and chaotic state, are all observed under both the IS and IL conditions. The periodic state with a low frequency modula-
tion is observed under the IS condition but occurs at higher Re beyond the considered range under the IL condition. Overall, the critical
Reynolds numbers at different bifurcations under the IS condition are lower than those under the IL condition. Compared to the IS condi-
tion, the flow under the IL condition tends to lose symmetry more easily, even for some cases in the periodic state area at a  15 .
Furthermore, a detailed comparison suggests that the critical Reynolds numbers at different bifurcations for the square plate are generally
higher than those for the circular disk.
Published under license by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0039595

I. INTRODUCTION doubling bifurcations is detected in the complicated periodic state

Transitions of the flow past a thin plate have been an important
topic for many years. Extensive investigations for the flow past a flat
plate have been conducted.1–9 Focusing on the wake transitions of a
flat plate normal to the flow, the flow remains steady and symmetrical
in the chord length-based Reynolds number range of Re ¼ 5–20.1 The
first bifurcation occurs at Re ¼ 30–35 where the flow steps into an
unsteady state,2 and then, the secondary bifurcation at Re ¼ 105–110
renders the flow three-dimensional;3 with further growth of Re, the
flow eventually becomes turbulent. The inclination of the flat plate is
found to significantly affect its hydrodynamic characteristics.4 Zhang
et al.5 presented a two-dimensional numerical study on the route to a
chaotic state for the flow past an inclined flat plate. After the Hopf
bifurcation, the flow changes from the steady state to the one
frequency-locking periodic state. For subsequent motions in the peri-
odic state, the first period-doubling bifurcation is generated, resulting
in a complicated periodic state. Then, a sequence of successive period-
region. This transition process via the sequential occurrence of period-
doubling bifurcations and various incommensurate bifurcations was
also observed for an inclined three-dimensional (3D) flat plate.6
Compared with the flow past a thin flat plate with an infinite
span, the flow past a thin plate with a finite span is more common in
both nature and industry. The circular disk is a basic axisymmetric
prototype. The wake flow of a circular disk in the low Reynolds num-
ber range, together with various transitions that occur, has been exten-
sively documented.10–21 When the Reynolds number is sufficiently
low, the flow is in a steady and axisymmetric state.12 The first regular
bifurcation occurs at Re ¼ 120.5, giving rise to a steady flow of reflec-
tional symmetry. This state is termed as the “steady asymmetry”12
or “steady state” (SS).13,14 The secondary bifurcation occurs at 128.5
< Re < 130 and is always of the Hopf type, which leads to a periodic
state with the breaking of reflectional symmetry. The periodic lift force
oscillates around a nonzero mean value, and the oscillations are

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-1

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids
perpendicular to the plane selected by the primary bifurcation. This
state is termed as the “three-dimensional periodic flow with regular
rotation of the separation region,”12 “reflectional symmetry breaking”
(RSB),13 or “mixed mode with phase p.”14 The next bifurcation at 140
< Re < 141.5 gives rise to the recovery of reflectional symmetry. This
state is referred to as the “unsteady with the plane of symmetry and zero
lift force”12 or “the standing wave” (SW).13,14 As the Reynolds number
increases up to 190, a quasi-periodic (or pre-chaotic) state pioneers
before the flow develops into chaos. A secondary frequency close to
one third of the leading frequency of the previous regimes is
observed.12,16,19,21 Finally, the flow steps into a chaotic state with the loss
of reflectional symmetry and periodicity at Re > 215. It should be noted
that all the critical Reynolds numbers mentioned above were reported
by Gao et al.21 for a thin circular disk with a diameter-thickness aspect
ratio of v ¼ 50. The critical Reynolds numbers for thin circular disks
with different values of v are summarized.21 The transition scenarios for
thicker circular disks (v < 4) could be obtained from several available
studies.11,15,16 More detailed information on the wake transitions of a
fixed or free-falling disk could be obtained from two early reviews.22,23
From the perspective of experimental investigations, the ideal
condition (i.e., where the flow is perfectly normal to the disk) is diffi-
cult to achieve. An unwanted and uncontrolled inclination might pre-
select a symmetry plane and change the observed scenario.24 In fact,
the flow past an inclined disk is more commonly observed in nature.
Some investigations have been performed to study the effect of the
inclination on the wake transitions of a circular disk.20,21,24,25 The inci-
dence angle (a) is defined as the angle between the flow direction and
the axis of the circular disk, i.e., a ¼ 0 refers to the condition where
the flow is normal to the disk. Chrust et al.24 conducted both numerical
and experimental studies on the flow past inclined disks of v ¼ 6 and
v ¼ 1 at Re < 250. The effects of the inclination on the wake transi-
tion, mainly at the Hopf bifurcation, were discussed; it was concluded
that a small inclination tends to promote vortex shedding and lowers
the instability threshold, whereas inclination angles exceeding 20
exhibit the opposite effect. The augmentation of the vortex shedding
frequency with the growth of a was observed.20,21,24,25 A comprehen-
sive numerical study classifying the flow regimes behind an inclined
disk in the parametric space of 50  Re  300 and 0  a  80 was
conducted.21 Five flow regimes were observed and denoted as follows:
steady state (SS), periodic state (PS), periodic state with a low frequency
modulation (PSL), quasi-periodic state (QP), and chaotic state (CS).
The inclination breaks the perfectly axisymmetry and results in the dis-
appearance of the primary bifurcation as observed in the flow normal to
a circular disk. Therefore, the steady flow with planar symmetry is the
exclusive pattern below the boundary of Hopf instability. The first bifur-
cation is of the Hopf type, giving rise to a periodic flow with planar sym-
metry determined by the inclination. A unique flow regime named the
PSL state is observed in the intermediate a range (approximately
30 –55 ) at Re > 195. In addition to the primary vortex shedding fre-
quency reported in the PS area, another pronounced low frequency
(approximately one-tenth of the primary frequency) is also observed in
the PSL state. The quasi-periodic (QP) state pioneers before the flow
becomes fully chaotic. For the flow in the QP state, the phase-plot of the
force coefficients is no longer perfectly coincident, but the planar sym-
metry of the flow is still conserved in the whole QP regime.
The circular disk is a perfectly axisymmetric prototype with
curved edges. However, some structures in nature are irregularly
Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
shaped and composed of irregular polylines with sharp corners. Of
interest, in some basic noncircular planforms, e.g., rectangular, trape-
zoidal, triangular, and elliptic plates, some numerical investigations
were performed.26,27 For the rectangular plates, under the effect of the
span-chord aspect ratio (AR) and the angle of attack, the flow reaches
a steady state, a periodic cycle or aperiodic shedding at Re ¼ 300 and
500.26 Differently, two distinct modes of periodic unsteady flow with
significant differences in frequency, at the same Re, were observed for
an inclined trapezoidal plate.27 In addition, it was found that higher
Reynolds numbers and/or smaller inclination angles result in a loss of
center plane reflection symmetry in the wake.27
The square plate, a symmetric planform, is considered in the pre-
sent study. Different from a circular disk, a square plate has four edges,
four corners, and four axes of symmetry. Two axes of symmetry are
diagonal lines (abbreviated as long axes), while the other two are the
lines connecting the midpoints of the opposite edges (abbreviated as
short axes). As shown in Fig. 1, the situations where the square plate is
inclined around the short axis and the long axis are simply denoted as
the IS and IL conditions, respectively. The configuration for the square
plate under the IL condition has some similarities with low-aspect-
ratio wings in the sideslip condition.28–32 In addition to an inclination
angle with respect to the incoming flow, the thin plate rotates around
the normal of its surface to an angle, which is the sideslip angle. The
sideslip angle of the IL condition is 45 , in fact, representing a symme-
try configuration with respect to the incoming flow. However, the
sideslip angle of the low-aspect-ratio wings is usually less than 45 .
The asymmetric lateral flow around a low-aspect-ratio wing in the
sideslip would induce statically stable roll moments and cause some
other effects in the Re range of 104–105.31
Considering a uniform incoming flow past an inclined square
plate at low Reynolds numbers, several unsolved questions remain.
For example: (i) what are the wake transitions of a thin square plate?
(ii) What are the differences in the wake transitions between the two
inclination conditions? (iii) What are the differences in the wake tran-
sitions between a square plate and a circular disk? Therefore, aiming
to answer these questions, a comprehensive parametric study in the
Re-a space is conducted in this study.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The
details of the numerical simulations are described in Sec. II. The
results are presented in Sec. III. Discussion and conclusion are pro-
vided in Sec. IV.
FIG. 1. Schematic representations of the uniform flow past an inclined square
plate. The square plate is inclined around its (a) short axis (IS) and (b) long axis
(IL). The inclination angle (a) between the square plate and the coordinate system
is defined.
33, 034128-2
 Physics of Fluids
II. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
A. Mathematical formulations and numerical
methods
The incompressible uniform flow past a square plate is consid-
ered in the present study. The governing equations are the
Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations, which are written in the Cartesian
coordinate system (x, y, z). Here, the y- and z-directions represent the
vertical and horizontal cross-stream directions, respectively, and the x-
direction represents the streamwise direction (see Fig. 1). These coor-
dinates could be denoted as xi, where i ¼ 1, 2, and 3, and ui is the
velocity component of the corresponding direction. The N–S equa-
tions can be expressed as
@ui
¼ 0; (1)
@xi
@ui @ui 1 @p @ 2 ui
þ uj ¼ þ ; (2)
@t @xj q @xi @xj @xj
where j ¼ 1, 2, and 3, p is the pressure, q is the density of the fluid, and
 is the kinematic viscosity. For clarity, (x1, x2, x3) is denoted as (x, y,
z), and the velocity (u1, u2, u3) is represented as (ux, uy, uz).
The N–S equations are discretized using the finite volume
method (FVM) based on the open source computational fluid dynam-
ics (CFD) code OpenFOAM. Based on the tensorial approach and
object-oriented techniques, OpenFOAM is an object-oriented code
and applied to solve continuum mechanics problems.33 The pressure
implicit with splitting of operators (PISO) scheme (pisoFoam) is used
in the present numerical simulations. The discretization of each term
is undertaken by integrating the term over a control volume using
Gauss's theorem, and then, volume and surface integrals are linearized
using suitable schemes. The spatial schemes of interpolation, gradient,
Laplacian, and divergence are all linear and of second order. An addi-
tional correction is performed for the Laplacian term by interpolating
cell center gradients. The second-order Crank-Nicolson scheme is
used for the time integration. Further detailed information of these
schemes is presented.34
In the present study, three manners of placement for the square
plate with respect to the incoming flow are considered: (i) normal condi-
tion (a ¼ 0 ), (ii) IS condition, and (iii) IL condition. The Reynolds
number is defined as Re ¼ U1 ld /, where U1 is the velocity of the
Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
incoming flow. ld is the equivalent diameter calculated as ld ¼ 4Av =p,
where Av is the projected area of the inclined square plate perpendicular
to the streamwise direction, i.e., Av ¼ L2cosa. L is the chord length of the
square plate. Numerical simulations are performed in the parametric
space of 50  Re  350 and 0  a  60 . The ratio of the chord
(equal to the span) to the thickness of the plate is chosen as 50,
representing a reasonably thin plate.16
As shown in Fig. 2(a), we use a spherical computational domain
for the numerical simulations. The origin of the coordinate system (x,
y, z) is located at the center of the square plate, which is also the center
of the computational domain. The radius of the computational
domain is Rd ¼ 30 L. Compared with the previous numerical stud-
ies,12,16,21 the computational size is large enough that the boundary
has little influence on the near wake of the plate. The entire computa-
tional domain is discretized with hexahedral elements, and grid
stretching is applied in all directions with finer resolution near the
plate to accurately capture the vortical structures, as illustrated in Fig.
2(b). The whole domain is rotated together with the plate by the same
angle to ensure the good quality of the mesh and achieve computing
convenience. The outlet patch is always displaced with respect to the
plate to remain situated downstream during the rotation.
At the inlet boundary, a uniform flow (U1 ,0,0) and a zero nor-
mal gradient pressure are prescribed. At the outlet boundary, the
velocity is set to a zero normal gradient and the pressure is set to zero.
The boundary conditions on the plate surface are no slip and imper-
meability for the velocity and a zero normal gradient for the pressure.
The nondimensional force coefficients in three directions are
defined as
ðFx ; Fy ; Fz Þ
ðCx ; Cy ; Cz Þ ¼ ; (3)
2 qU1 L
1 2 2
where Fx, Fy, and Fz are the force components acting on the square
plate in the x-, y-, and z-directions, respectively, and are directly calcu-
lated by integrating the pressure and viscous shear stress over the plate
surface. Here, the symbol hi is used to represent a time-averaged value.
We report all spatial and temporal variables in nondimensional units
normalized by the chord of the square plate and the freestream veloc-
ity (i.e., x/L and tU1 =L), respectively.
The vorticity component in the x-direction (xx) is used to iden-
tify three-dimensional vortical structures and is expressed as
FIG. 2. Schematic diagrams of the com-
putational domain and grids of the mesh.
(a) Overall view of the spherical domain
and boundaries. The outlet boundary is
located at the downstream of the plate,
and the inlet boundary covers the rest sur-
face of the computational domain. (b) A
detailed view of the grids near the square
plate surface.
33, 034128-3
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

TABLE I. Time-averaged hCx i and hCy i of the four flow configurations (Re,a) obtained by the cases with five different spatial and temporal resolutions.

IS condition IL condition

Re ¼ 170 Re ¼ 206 Re ¼ 130 Re ¼ 250

Case Elements n1 =L DtU1 =L a ¼ 40 a ¼ 30 a ¼ 20 a ¼ 30

hCx i S1 516 480 0.0040 0.0030 0.934 1.038 1.218 1.048

S2 779 130 0.0035 0.0025 0.932 1.036 1.216 1.047
S3 1 068 200 0.0030 0.0020 0.931 1.034 1.215 1.045
S3R 1 248 400 0.0030 0.0020 0.933 1.035 1.216 1.047
S4 1 329 696 0.0025 0.0015 0.930 1.034 1.214 1.044
hCy i S1 516 480 0.0040 0.0030 0.654 0.532 0.398 0.540
S2 779 130 0.0035 0.0025 0.652 0.531 0.397 0.540
S3 1 068 200 0.0030 0.0020 0.650 0.530 0.396 0.538
S3R 1 248 400 0.0030 0.0020 0.652 0.532 0.398 0.539
S4 1 329 696 0.0025 0.0015 0.650 0.529 0.396 0.537

@uz @uy where f is the frequency.

xx ¼  : (4)
@y @z
For the sake of the coherence with the definition of Re, the B. Convergence studies
Strouhal number is defined as Convergence studies are performed to assess the effects of the
spatial and temporal resolutions on the numerical simulations. Four
fld cases with different numbers of grids and time steps are considered
St ¼ ; (5) (see cases S1–S4 in Table I, where n1 is the size of the smallest cell near
U1

FIG. 3. Comparison of the time traces of the nondimensional axial velocity at the location of (x,y,z) ¼ (L,0,0) in the wake. (a) (Re,a) ¼ (170, 40 ) and (b) (206, 30 ) are the
cases under the IS condition. (c) (Re,a) ¼ (130, 20 ) and (d) (250, 30 ) are the cases under the IL condition.

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-4

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

FIG. 4. Comparison of the time-averaged pressure coefficient hCp i at the line of y/L ¼ 0, z/L ¼ 0 in the wake. (a) (Re,a) ¼ (170, 40 ) and (b) (206, 30 ) are the cases under
the IS condition. (c) (Re,a) ¼ (130, 20 ) and (d) (250, 30 ) are the cases under the IL condition. The pressure coefficient Cp is defined as Cp ¼ (p-p1 )/(0.5 qU1
2
Þ, where p1
is the reference pressure at the center of the inlet boundary.

the plate surface and Dt is the time step). In each case, four flow con-
figurations are selected for comparison. (Re,a) ¼ (170, 40 ) and (206,
30 ) are under the IS condition, and (Re,a) ¼ (130, 20 ) and (250, 30 )
are under the IL condition. The results of hCx i and hCy i (see Table I)
and of the time traces of nondimensional axial velocity (ux /U1 ) at the
location of (x,y,z) ¼ (L,0,0) (see Fig. 3) in the near wake show good
agreement. As shown in Fig. 4, very slight differences of the time-
averaged pressure coefficient hCp i among four cases suggest a reason-
able convergence for the spatial and temporal resolutions in the whole
wake field. Furthermore, based on case S3, a refined mesh in the far
field, which is case S3R, is applied to evaluate the mesh in the far field.
As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the results show very little differences
between cases S3 and S3R, again indicating a good convergence in the
far field. To simulate the flow with a better accuracy, the setup used in
case S3, i.e., with 1068 200 grid elements and a time step of
DtU1 =L ¼ 0.002, is selected for the following numerical simulations.
C. Code validation
The present numerical approach has been employed with success
in our previous investigations for the flow past a circular disk, and
very detailed validations have been provided.20,21,35 The results of criti-
cal Reynolds numbers at different bifurcations for a circular disk show

TABLE II. Critical Reynolds numbers and Strouhal numbers at different bifurcations. Rec1 ; Rec2 ; Rec3 ; Rec4 , and Rec5 are the onsets of the steady state, RSB mode, standing
wave, quasi-periodic state, and chaotic state, respectively. The square brackets correspond to the mean error margin.

Rec1 Rec2 Rec3 Rec4 Rec5

Stp2 Stp3

Square plate (present) [120,122] [132,135] [145,147] [220,225] [230,240]

0.120 0.113
Circular disk21 120.5 [128.5,130] [140,141.5] [185,190] [210,215]
0.121 0.114

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-5

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

FIG. 5. Time-averaged (a) lift coefficient hCy i and (b) drag coefficient hCx i as a function of the inclination angle for a square plate (AR ¼ 1) under the IS condition. The
Reynolds number is based on the chord length.

FIG. 6. Time-averaged (a) lift coefficient hCy i and (b) drag coefficient hCx i as a function of the inclination angle for a rectangular plate (AR ¼ 2). The Reynolds number is
based on the chord length. The filled symbols correspond to the numerical results and the open symbols to the experimental results.

good agreement with those from the existing literature (see
Table II in Gao et al.21). At different inclination angles, the results of the
Strouhal number given by Gao et al. (see Fig. 10 in Gao et al.21) are in
good agreement with those from Chrust et al.24 Moreover, the numerical
results of the time-averaged streamwise velocity profile in the plane of
x=L ¼ 0 (see Fig. 5 in Tian et al.20) correspond well to the experimental
results.25
Figures 5 and 6 show the time-averaged force coefficients for a
square plate (AR ¼ 1) and a rectangular plate (AR ¼ 2), respectively.
For both the square plate and the rectangular plate at low Re (100, 300,
and 500), the force coefficients have the same trend as the previous
results reported by Taira and Colonius26 and Huang et al.,27 despite
small differences in the values of the force coefficients. The thickness
of the plate is zero (an infinitely thin plate) thickness and a certain

FIG. 7. Results of the contours of xx in the plane of z/L ¼ 0 for a rectangular plate (AR ¼ 2) at a ¼ 60 . The Reynolds number based on the chord length (L) is 100. (a) The
present numerical results. (b) The numerical and (c) experimental results from Taira et al.36

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-6

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

FIG. 8. Sample characterization of the wake transition scenarios of a thin square plate normal to the flow. (a)–(c) Steady and reflectional symmetry with respect to four planes
of symmetry at Re ¼ 100. (d)–(f) Steady and reflectional symmetry with respect to one plane of symmetry at Re ¼ 125. (g) and (h) Reflectional-symmetry-breaking (RSB)
mode at Re ¼ 140. (i)–(k) Standing wave (SW) mode at Re ¼ 170. (l) Quasi-periodic state at Re ¼ 230. (m) Chaotic state at Re ¼ 300. In (a), (d), (g), and (m), light and dark
surfaces indicate isosurfaces of xx ¼ 60.1 U1 /L, respectively. In (b) and (e), solid and dashed lines indicate the positive and negative values of the axial vorticity xx in the
plane of x/L ¼ 0.5, respectively. The position of the symmetry plane is represented by the dashed dotted line. The square in (b) and (e) is the projection of the plate.

thickness (0.037 L) in their numerical and experimental results,26,27
respectively. In the present study, the thickness of the plate is chosen
as 0.02 L. The difference of thickness may contribute to these slight
discrepancies of the force coefficients. It is noted that the force coeffi-
cients of the square plate have obvious distinctions between low and
high Re ranges, while slight differences are observed for the rectangular
plate. This suggests that the forces acted on the square plate are sensi-
tive to the Reynolds number. Yet, the high Re and the effect of the
aspect ratio are not the focus in the present study. Relevant research
studies can be obtained from other publications.26,27,30,37 As shown in

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-7

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids
FIG. 9. Classification of the flow regimes under the IS condition in the considered
Re-a parametric space. Steady state (SS), 4; periodic state (PS), ; periodic state
with a low frequency modulation (PSL), ^; quasi-periodic state (QP), ; and cha-
otic state (CS), 3. Black symbols denote the cases where the flow shows a fixed
plane of symmetry determined by the inclination, while red symbols denote the
asymmetric cases.
Fig. 7, the present vorticity contours in the mid-span plane show the
same topology as those in the numerical and experimental results.36 It
is concluded that the present numerical method is able to provide reli-
able results for the flow around a thin square plate.
III. RESULTS
A. Wake transition under the normal condition
We first study the wake transition of a thin square plate normal
to the flow. Figure 8 provides sample illustrations of the transition
states with five bifurcations from a steady flow to a chaotic state.
As shown in Figs. 8(a) and 8(b), the flow is steady and planar
symmetry with respect to all the longitudinal planes passing through
the axes of symmetry. Four pairs of counter-rotating streamwise vorti-
ces are evenly distributed and stably attached to the square plate. The
hydrodynamic force acting on the plate shows a steady drag force in
FIG. 10. Sample vortical structures in the SS state at Re ¼ 100 under the IS condition. The plate is inclined by (a) a ¼ 10 and (b) a ¼ 60 . Light and dark surfaces indicate
the axial vorticity xx ¼ 6 0.1 U1 /L, respectively.
Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
this regime [see Fig. 8(c)]. As is known from the literature, the axisym-
metrical flow with a toroidal vortex is observed behind a normal circu-
lar disk at very low Re (trivial state, TS15). Considering the cases of the
circular disk and the square plate mentioned above, we notice that the
distribution of vortices is determined by the geometrical characteristics
of thin plates at very low Re. After the primary bifurcation, the number
of symmetry planes is reduced to one; this single symmetry plane is
the longitudinal plane passing through one of the two short symmetry
axes [the plane of z/L ¼ 0 for the case shown in Fig. 8(e)]. The selec-
tion of the symmetry axis is arbitrarily determined. The single plane of
symmetry of the flow results in a steady associated lift force along the
y-direction as shown in Fig. 8(f). Then, the square plate undergoes a
Hopf bifurcation from a steady to a fully three-dimensional periodic
flow with the loss of planar symmetry (RSB mode), as illustrated in
Fig. 8(g). The orientation of the lift force oscillates around the plane of
z=L ¼ 0 [see Fig. 8(h)], which is the same plane selected as the pri-
mary bifurcation. At the third bifurcation, the planar symmetry of the
flow is recovered (SW mode), resulting in the zero value of Cz in Fig. 8
(i). The closed-path butterfly like attractor in the Cx-Cy plot [Fig. 8(j)]
suggests that the oscillation of force coefficients could stay on the same
path during several periods. Figure 8(k) shows that Cy oscillates at
Stp ¼ 0.113, while Cx oscillates at 2Stp. Before the flow becomes cha-
otic, it experiences a quasi-periodic state. Different from SW mode,
the multi-path butterfly like attractor as shown in Fig. 8(l) indicates
that the force coefficients no longer oscillate on the exact same route.
Nevertheless, the reflectional symmetry is stilled preserved. Finally, the
flow becomes chaotic with the loss of both planar symmetry and the
periodicity [see Fig. 8(m)].
The critical Reynolds numbers (Rec) and Strouhal numbers (Stp,
which represents the primary vortex shedding frequency of the flow)
at different bifurcations are listed in Table II. Recalling the description
of a circular disk21 in Sec. I, the overall transition scenarios of a square
plate and a circular disk normal to the flow are found to be almost the
same, whereas the critical Reynolds numbers at different bifurcations
of the square plate are slightly higher than those of the circular disk.
B. Wake transition under the IS condition
In the considered parametric space of 50  Re  350 and
0  a  60 , exhaustive numerical simulations are conducted for the
flow past a square plate under the IS condition. Five flow regimes,
including the steady state (SS), periodic state (PS), periodic state with a
low frequency modulation (PSL), quasi-periodic state (QP), and
33, 034128-8
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

FIG. 11. Sample characteristics of the PS

state under the IS condition. The plate is
inclined by a ¼ 20 at Re ¼ 200. (a) xx
isosurfaces are shown at the levels of
60.1 U1 /L indicated by light and dark
surfaces, respectively. (b) Cz-Cy and (c)
Cx-Cy diagrams.

FIG. 12. Results of the force coefficients

in the PSL state under the IS condition.
The plate is inclined by a ¼ 30 (left col-
umn) and by a ¼ 40 (right column) at
Re ¼ 225. (a) and (b) Time traces of Cx
and Cy, (c) and (d) power spectra density
(PSD) plots of Cx and Cy, and (e) and (f)
Cz-Cy diagrams.

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-9

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids
chaotic state (CS), are observed and classified by symbols as shown in
Fig. 9. The thresholds between different flow regimes are identified by
the solid lines with different colors. All asymmetric flows are indicated
by red symbols in the plot. Careful examinations are conducted to
classify the cases according to the typical characteristics belonging to
different regimes, e.g., steady force coefficients in the SS state, a single
closed-path attractor in the Cx-Cy plot in the PS state, and a low fre-
quency component (approximately 1/10–1/4 of the primary vortex
shedding frequency) in the PSL state. Different from the flow past an
inclined circular disk,21 the flow is quite complicated and more likely
to lose planar symmetry behind the inclined square plate. Therefore,
the QP state is characterized by periodic features, e.g., a multipath tra-
jectory in the Cx-Cy plot and evident peaks of the frequency compo-
nents in the PSD (power spectrum density) diagram. When both the
periodic features and planar symmetry vanish, the flow develops into
the CS state. However, the onset of chaos (the QP-CS boundary) is not
always quite clear-cut especially for the asymmetric cases.
Recalling the discussion in Sec. III A, for the steady flow normal
to a square plate, the number of symmetry planes is reduced from four
Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
to one after the primary bifurcation. However, for an inclined plate,
the plane of symmetry is unique and determined by the inclination,
resulting in the disappearance of the primary bifurcation. Only one
flow pattern, namely, steady state (SS), exists before the flow becomes
unsteady. As shown in Fig. 10, two cases at Re ¼ 100 in the SS state are
chosen as examples. The three-dimensional vortical structures identi-
fied by isosurfaces of xx show three pairs of counter-rotating vortices
at small inclination angles [see Fig. 10(a)] but two pairs at large incli-
nation angles [see Fig. 10(b)] in the wake. It is worth mentioning that
the vortex strands become longer as a increases, indicating that the
presence of the inclination strengthens the intensity of the vortices.
These observations are consistent with those of a circular disk.21,24
The first bifurcation is of the Hopf type, which renders the vorti-
ces unsteady, and the flow develops into the periodic state (PS). As
shown in Fig. 11, the results of the case at (Re,a) ¼ (200, 20 ) are pre-
sented to show the typical characteristics of the flow in the PS state.
The isosurfaces of xx in Fig. 11(a) show successive vortices behind the
inclined square plate, implying the periodicity of the flow. The planar
symmetry of the flow with respect to the plane of z/L ¼ 0 is always
FIG. 13. Results of the force coefficients
of in the QP state under the IS condition.
The plate is inclined by a ¼ 20 at
Re ¼ 220 (left column) and a ¼ 25 at
Re ¼ 280 (right column). (a) and (b)
Power spectral density (PSD) plots of Cx
and Cy, (c) and (d) Cx-Cy diagrams, and
(e) and (f) Cz-Cy diagrams.
33, 034128-10
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

FIG. 14. Sample characterization of the

CS state under the IS condition. The plate
is inclined by a ¼ 10 at Re ¼ 275. (a)
xx isosurfaces are shown at the levels of
60.1 U1 /L indicated by light and dark
surfaces, respectively; (b) and (c) Cz-Cy
and Cx-Cy diagrams; and (d) power spec-
tra density (PSD) plot of Cx and Cy.

maintained in the whole PS state under the IS condition [see Fig. 11 from 1/3 to 1/2 with increasing a around the QP-PS boundary. An
(b)], except for several asymmetrical cases located near the RSB mode exact 1:2 resonance of the phase locking of Stl and Stp results in the sin-
(red marks within the region of Re  135–145 and a  3 ). This gle loop in the Cx-Cy diagram [see Fig. 13(c)]. A similar phenomenon
asymmetrical region has also been observed for an inclined circular was previously reported for a normal disk15 and for an inclined disk in
disk.21,24 At the onset of the RSB mode (a weakly unstable state), the the QP state.21 However, this exact 1:2 resonance does not last long,
Hopf bifurcation is dominant for very small inclination angles ( 3 ) and the low frequency gradually disappears with the further growth of
insomuch that the reflectional symmetry could not recover with the
changing inclination. The Cx-Cy diagram presented in Fig. 11(c)
clearly shows a closed-path butterfly like attractor, revealing that the
oscillation of force coefficients could remain on the same path during
several periods.
The periodic state with a low-frequency modulation (PSL)
reported for an inclined circular disk20,21 is also observed for the
inclined square plate under the IS condition. The PSL state area is
located in the intermediate a range of 25  50 at 210  Re  350
(see Fig. 9). This state inherits the key features of the PS state, but the
flow is modulated by a low frequency component. Several main fea-
tures of the PSL state are shown in Fig. 12 for cases at (Re, a) ¼ (225,
30 ) and (225, 40 ). The time traces and PSD diagrams of the force
coefficients clearly present this pronounced low frequency component
[denoted as Stl; see Stl ¼ 0.028 in Fig. 12(c) and Stl ¼ 0.026 in Fig. 12
(d)]. On the increasing Re, the ratio of Stl to Stp is increased from 1/10
to 1/4. The higher harmonics of Stp appear as single well-defined peaks
[see Fig. 12(c)], but they show wide frequency bands at a¼40 [see
Fig. 12(d)]. The planar symmetry of the wake with respect to the plane
of z/L ¼ 0 is always conserved in the whole PSL state [see Figs. 12(e)
and 12(f)].
The quasi-periodic state (QP) is a transitional state prior to the
chaotic state. Here, two cases are chosen as examples: the one at
(Re,a) ¼ (220, 20 ) is a planar symmetric case close to the QP-PS FIG. 15. Classification of the flow regimes under the IL condition in the considered
Re-a parametric space. Steady state (SS), 4; periodic state (PS), ; quasi-
boundary, and the other at (Re,a) ¼ (280, 25 ) is an asymmetric case periodic state (QP),  ; and chaotic state (CS), /. Black symbols denote the cases
close to the QP-CS boundary. As shown in Fig. 13(a), a low frequency where the flow shows a fixed plane of symmetry determined by the inclination, while
component (Stl¼0.073) is observed. The ratio of Stl to Stp increases red symbols denote the asymmetric cases.

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-11

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids
a, whereupon the flow returns to the PS state. The zero value of Cz in
Fig. 13(e) implies the planar symmetry of the flow. Next, we examine
the asymmetric flows in the QP state at Re > 250. Although the flow is
no longer symmetric [see the nonzero value of Cz in Fig. 13(f)], it still
has periodic features. As shown in Fig. 13(b), the frequency compo-
nents, i.e., Stp ¼ 0:165 and Stl ¼ 0:078, are clearly observed and
appear as single peaks. In addition, higher harmonics (0.322 and
0.487) are also shown in Fig. 13(b). The trajectory in Fig. 13(d) seems
less ordered but nevertheless remains on the route in a similar direc-
tion with some drifts over time. Note that despite the close value of the
ratio of Stl to Stp near the QP-PSL boundary, the flow exhibits planar
symmetry in the PSL state but asymmetry in the QP state.
When both the symmetry and periodicity vanish, the flow even-
tually develops into the chaotic state (CS). The flow is always asym-
metric in the CS state, as shown by the three-dimensional vortical
structures in Fig. 14(a) and nonzero values of Cz in Fig. 14(b). The
bifurcation induced by Re plays a dominant role regardless of the incli-
nation; planar symmetry cannot be recovered in the CS state area
under any degree of inclination. The Cx-Cy diagram in Fig. 14(c)
shows a completely chaotic trajectory. As shown in Fig. 14(d), there is
no obvious peak corresponding to the primary vortex shedding fre-
quency or its higher harmonics in the PSD diagram, indicating the
thorough disappearance of periodicity.
Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
FIG. 16. Sample characterization of
asymmetric flow in the PS state under the
IL condition. The plate is inclined by
a ¼ 5 at Re ¼ 180. (a) xx isosurfaces
are shown at the levels of 60.1 U1 /L
indicated by light and dark surfaces,
respectively; (b) and (c) Cx-Cy and Cz-Cy
diagrams; and (d) time traces of the orien-
tation of the lift force, where h is defined
by the direction of the lift force with
respect to the y-axis.
C. Wake transition under the IL condition
As shown in Fig. 15, four flow regimes are observed for the
square plate under the IL condition, including the steady state (SS),
periodic state (PS), quasi-periodic state (QP), and chaotic state (CS).
The SS and CS observed under the IL condition have the same flow
features as those observed under the IS condition, which are discussed
in Sec. III B.
In the PS state under the IL condition, except for the region near
the RSB mode (Re  135–145 and a < 3 ), the asymmetric flow also
exists in the higher parametric range (see Fig. 15). Figure 16 shows the

results of the case at (Re, a) ¼ (180, 5 ). As shown in Figs. 16(b) and
16(c), the trajectories in both the Cx-Cy and Cz-Cy diagrams take the
shape of a single loop, which indicates that the periodicity of the flow
is perfectly conserved. However, the planar symmetry of the flow is no
longer maintained. The axial vorticity isosurfaces in Fig. 16(a) show
the asymmetric distribution of the vortices behind the plate. The flow
in the PS state at small a (a  15 ) has already become asymmetric;
thus, the flow is always asymmetric in the QP state except for several
cases near the QP-PS boundary. This special asymmetric region under
the IL condition is quite different from that under the IS condition
and will be discussed later in Sec. IV.
The PS state takes up most of the region in the parametric space,
even at high Reynolds numbers reaching up to 350, where the flow is
FIG. 17. Sample characterization of the
PSL state under the IL condition. The
plate is inclined by a ¼ 40 at Re ¼ 400.
(a) Power spectra density (PSD) plot of Cx
and Cy and (b) Cz-Cy diagram.
33, 034128-12
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

FIG. 18. Instantaneous streamlines in the near wake behind the plate. The plate is inclined by a ¼ 5 at Re ¼ 180 under the IS condition (a) and the IL condition (b).

in the PSL state under the IS condition. Different from the IS condi- the clear distinction of the left and right vortices behind the plate. As a
tion, the leading and trailing edges with respect to the flow are delta- result of the sharp corner, the planar symmetry could not be recovered
shaped edges under the IL condition, and the side edges shrink to at small inclination angles. However, with increasing a, the effect of
points [see Fig. 1(b)]. As is known from the literature,26 the absence of the sharp corner becomes weaker and the larger inclination gradually
wing tips (side edges) allows the vortex sheets from the leading edges takes the dominant role in regulating the flow and determining the
to roll up and convect downstream in a very stable manner. Given the symmetry plane.
previous results indicating that the IL condition is likely to stabilize the Furthermore, a comparison of the wake transitions between an
flow and delay the bifurcations, we test several cases outside the cur- inclined square plate and an inclined circular disk is conducted. The
rent range to find the PSL state. Therefore, cases at higher Reynolds results of the primary vortex shedding frequency (Stp) are summarized
numbers (Re ¼ 400 and 450) where the plate is inclined by a¼40 are in Fig. 19. In general, similar values of Stp between the circular disk
calculated. The results of the case at (Re,a) ¼ (400, 40 ) are shown in and the square plate are observed, as was experimentally observed by
Fig. 17. Typical flow features belonging to the PSL state are observed, Fail et al.38 As shown in Fig. 20, the flow regimes and their typical fea-
e.g., an evident low frequency (approximately 1/8 of the primary vor- tures are quite similar between the inclined circular disk and the
tex shedding frequency) and preservation of the planar symmetry with inclined square plate. However, the distributions of the flow regimes
respect to the plane of z/L ¼ 0. The appearance of the PSL state at are quite different (considering the different positions of lines of differ-
higher Re further confirms the aforementioned speculation that the ent line types). The thresholds between different flow regimes are first
delta-shaped leading and trailing edges indeed delay the bifurcation. delayed and then advanced as a increases. The turning point in this
trend shows an identical value of approximately a¼30 for the Hopf
IV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION bifurcation (black lines) but varies for other bifurcations between the
Direct numerical simulations are performed to investigate the square plate and the circular disk. Except for the very similar value for
wake transitions of an inclined square plate under two different incli- the Hopf bifurcation at a < 40 , the critical Reynolds numbers of the
nation methods, namely, the IS and IL conditions. In the parametric
space of 50  Re  350 and 0  a  60 , four flow regimes, namely,
the steady state (SS), periodic state (PS), quasi-periodic state (QP), and
chaotic state (CS), are observed for the inclined square plate under
both the IS and the IL conditions. The periodic state with a low fre-
quency modulation (PSL) is observed under the IS condition, but it is
found to occur at higher Re outside the considered range under the IL
condition.
Recalling the discussion about asymmetric flows in the PS and
QP states in Sec. III B and in Sec. III C, the flow becomes asymmetric
in the QP state at Re > 250 and a > 20 under the IS condition, but
under the IL condition, asymmetric flows not only occur in the QP
state but also in the PS state area (a  15 ). It is worth mentioning
that even a very small inclination angle ( 1 ) results in asymmetric
wakes for all unsteady flows under the IL condition. This suggests that
the flow tends to lose planar symmetry more easily under the IL condi-
tion than that under the IS condition, which is related to the different
inclination methods of the square plate. The configurations of the two
inclination methods are shown in Fig. 1: the leading edge is a smooth
straight line under the IS condition but a broken line with a sharp cor- FIG. 19. Strouhal number Stp as a function of the Reynolds number for different
ner under the IL condition. The delta-shaped leading edge, especially inclination angles a for the inclined square plate and the inclined circular disk. The
results of Stp for the square plate under the IS and IL conditions are indicated by
the sharp corner, is more likely to break the symmetric incoming flow black and red symbols, respectively. Blue symbols represent the results of the
than the smooth straight line. As shown in Fig. 18(b), there is a sharp inclined circular disk.21 Error bars are used to represent the cases where the domi-
separation of the flow passing through the sharp corner, resulting in nant frequency shows a wideband rather than a single peak.

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-13

Published under license by AIP Publishing
 Physics of Fluids
FIG. 20. Distributions of the flow regimes for the square plate and the circular disk
in the considered Re-a parametric space. The steady state (SS), periodic state
(PS), periodic state with a low frequency modulation (PSL), quasi-periodic state
(QP) and chaotic state (CS). The results for the inclined square plate under the IS
and IL conditions are indicated by solid and dashed lines, respectively. The results
for the inclined circular disk are indicated by dotted lines, and the gray dashed dot-
ted line represents the boundary of the parametric space considered in Gao et al.21
The circular disk and the square plate have the same chord length-(or diameter-)
thickness ratio of 50. The Reynolds number adopts the definition in the present
study for comparison.
inclined circular disk are lower than those of the inclined square plate
at the other bifurcations. For the square plate, the critical Reynolds
numbers under the IS condition are generally lower than those under
the IL condition, expect that the opposite phenomenon is observed at
a < 10 . This suggests that the IL condition delays the bifurcations
compared to the IS condition, which is also consistent with the appear-
ance of the PSL state at higher Re as discussed in Sec. III C. The
absence of the tip vortices due to the delta-shaped configuration under
the IL condition significantly affects the vortices and makes the vorti-
ces generating from the leading edges convect in a relatively regular
manner,26 which is related to the delaying of the bifurcation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U20A20328
and 51779141), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (Grant No.
19ZR1426300), the Key Foresight Funding of Shanghai Jiao Tong
University (Grant No. 19X160020014), the Shanghai Pujiang Program
(Grant No. 19PJ1405400), and the Shanghai Innovation Action Plan of
Science and Technology (Grand No. 19DZ1207300). All the numerical
simulations are supported by the Center for High Performance
Computing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
DATA AVAILABILITY
The data that support the findings of this study are available
within the article.
Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595
Published under license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf
REFERENCES
1
S. C. R. Dennis, W. Qiang, M. Coutanceau, and J. L. Launay, “Viscous flow nor-
mal to a flat plate at moderate Reynolds numbers,” J. Fluid Mech. 248, 605–635
(1993).
2
A. K. Saha, “Far-wake characteristics of two-dimensional flow past a normal
flat plate,” Phys. Fluids 19, 128110 (2007).
3
M. C. Thompson, K. Hourigan, K. Ryan, and G. J. Sheard, “Wake transition of
two-dimensional cylinders and axisymmetric bluff bodies,” J. Fluids Struct. 22,
793–806 (2006).
4
A. Fage and F. C. Johansen, “On the flow of air behind an inclined flat plate of
infinite span,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 116, 170–197 (1927).
5
J. Zhang, N. S. Liu, and X. Y. Lu, “Route to a chaotic state in fluid flow past an
inclined flat plate,” Phys. Rev. E 79, 045306 (2009).
6
D. Yang, V. D. Narasimhamurthy, B. Pettersen, and H. I. Andersson, “Three-
dimensional wake transition behind an inclined flat plate,” Phys. Fluids 24,
094107 (2012).
7
D. Yang, B. Pettersen, H. I. Andersson, and V. D. Narasimhamurthy, “Vortex
shedding in flow past an inclined flat plate at high incidence,” Phys. Fluids 24,
084103 (2012).
8
F. M. Najjar and S. P. Vanka, “Simulations of the unsteady separated flow past
a normal flat plate,” Int. J. Numer. Methods Fluids 21, 525–547 (1995).
9
X. Tian, M. C. Ong, J. Yang, and D. Myrhaug, “Large-Eddy simulation of the
flow normal to a flat plate including corner effects at a high Reynolds number,”
J. Fluids Struct. 49, 149–169 (2014).
10
R. Natarajan and A. Acrivos, “The instability of the steady flow past spheres
and disks,” J. Fluid Mech. 254, 323–344 (1993).
11
P. C. Fernandes, F. Risso, P. Ern, and J. Magnaudet, “Oscillatory motion and
wake instability of freely rising axisymmetric bodies,” J. Fluid Mech. 573,
479–502 (2007).
12
A. R. Shenoy and C. Kleinstreuer, “Flow over a thin circular disk at low to mod-
erate Reynolds numbers,” J. Fluid Mech. 605, 253–262 (2008).
13
D. Fabre, F. Auguste, and J. Magnaudet, “Bifurcations and symmetry breaking
in the wake of axisymmetric bodies,” Phys. Fluids 20, 051702 (2008).
14
P. Meliga, J. M. Chomaz, and D. Sipp, “Global mode interaction and pattern
selection in the wake of a disk: A weakly nonlinear expansion,” J. Fluid Mech.
633, 159–189 (2009).
15
F. Auguste, D. Fabre, and J. Magnaudet, “Bifurcations in the wake of a thick cir-
cular disk,” Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 24, 305–313 (2010).
16
M. Chrust, G. Bouchet, and J. Dušek, “Parametric study of the transition in the
wake of oblate spheroids and flat cylinders,” J. Fluid Mech. 665, 199–208
(2010).
17
T. Bobinski, S. Goujon-Durand, and J. E. Wesfreid, “Instabilities in the wake of
a circular disk,” Phys. Rev. E 89, 053021 (2014).
18
J. Yang, M. Liu, G. Wu, W. Zhong, and X. Zhang, “Numerical study on coher-
ent structure behind a circular disk,” J. Fluids Struct. 51, 172–188 (2014).
19
J. Yang, G. Wu, W. Zhong, and M. Liu, “Numerical study on bifurcations in
the wake of a circular disk,” Int. J. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 28, 187–203 (2014).
20
X. Tian, Z. Hu, H. Lu, and J. Yang, “Direct numerical simulations on the flow
past an inclined circular disk,” J. Fluids Struct. 72, 152–168 (2017).
21
S. Gao, L. Tao, X. Tian, and J. Yang, “Flow around an inclined circular disk,”
J. Fluid Mech. 851, 687–714 (2018).
22
M. Kiya, H. Ishikawa, and H. Sakamoto, “Near-wake instabilities and vortex
structures of three-dimensional bluff bodies: A review,” J. Wind Eng. Ind.
Aerodyn. 89, 1219–1232 (2001).
23
P. Ern, F. Risso, D. Fabre, and J. Magnaudet, “Wake-induced oscillatory paths of
bodies freely rising or falling in fluids,” Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 44, 97–121 (2012).
24
M. Chrust, C. Dauteuille, T. Bobinski, J. Rokicki, S. Goujon-Durand, J. E. Wesfreid,
G. Bouchet, and J. Dušek, “Effect of inclination on the transition scenario in the
wake of fixed disks and flat cylinders,” J. Fluid Mech. 770, 189–209 (2015).
25
J. R. Calvert, “Experiments on the flow past an inclined disk,” J. Fluid Mech.
29, 691–703 (1967).
26
K. Taira and T. Colonius, “Three-dimensional flows around low-aspect-ratio
flat-plate wings at low Reynolds numbers,” J. Fluid Mech. 623, 187–207 (2009).
27
Y. Huang, J. Venning, M. C. Thompson, and J. Sheridan, “Vortex separation
and interaction in the wake of inclined trapezoidal plates,” J. Fluid Mech. 771,
341–369 (2015).
33, 034128-14
 Physics of Fluids ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/phf

28
M. Shields and K. Mohseni, “Effects of sideslip on the aerodynamics of low
aspect ratio wings at low Reynolds numbers,” AIAA J. 50, 85–99 (2012).
29
M. Shields and K. Mohseni, “Roll stall for low-aspect-ratio wings,” J. Aircraft
50, 1060–1069 (2013).
30
T. Linehan and K. Mohseni, “Leading-edge flow reattachment and the lateral
static stability of low-aspect-ratio rectangular wings,” Phys. Rev. Fluids 2,
113901 (2017).
31
A. C. Devoria and K. Mohseni, “A vortex model for forces and moments on
low-aspect-ratio wings in side-slip with experimental validation,” Proc. R. Soc.
London, Ser. A 473, 20160760 (2017).
32
T. Linehan and K. Mohseni, “Theoretical prediction of roll moment due to
sideslip for thin low-aspect-ratio wings,” AIAA J. 57, 1452 (2019).
33
H. G. Weller, G. Tabor, H. Jasak, and C. Fureby, “A tensorial approach to com-
putational continuum mechanics using object-oriented techniques,” Comput.
Phys. 12, 620–631 (1998).
34
OpenFOAM, The Open Source CFD Toolbox, Programmer's Guide, Version 1.6
(OpenCFD Limited, 2009).
35
X. Tian, L. Xiao, X. Zhang, J. Yang, L. Tao, and D. Yang, “Flow around an
oscillating circular disk at low to moderate Reynolds numbers,” J. Fluid Mech.
812, 1119–1145 (2017).
36
K. Taira, W. B. Dickson, T. Colonius, M. H. Dickinson, and C. W. Rowley,
“Unsteadiness in flow over a flat plate at angle-of-attack at low Reynolds num-
bers,” in 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit (AIAA, 2007).
37
A. C. Devoria and K. Mohseni, “On the mechanism of high-incidence lift gen-
eration for steadily translating low-aspect-ratio wings,” J. Fluid Mech. 813,
110–126 (2017).
38
R. Fail, J. A. Lawford, and R. C. W. Eyre, “Low-speed-experiments on the
wake characteristics of flat plates normal to an air stream,” A.R.C.
Technical Report R. & M. No. 3120 (Aeronautical Research Council, London,
UK, 1959).

Phys. Fluids 33, 034128 (2021); doi: 10.1063/5.0039595 33, 034128-15

Published under license by AIP Publishing