The Transitional Regime of Backward-Facing Step Flows

The backward-facing step flow is investigated experimentally (electrodiffusion technique) and numerically (CFD software Fluent) at moderate Reynolds numbers achieved in a water channel. The direction sensitive sensors are used to measure the wall shear rate behind the step and detect the near-wall extent of different flow-recirculation regions. 2D numerical simulations provide additional information on the global flow rearrangement caused by the change of operational parameters (channel expansion ratios, inlet flow conditions). At the transitional flow regime, the near-wall flow exhibits an unsteady character with a high sensitivity to external low-frequency perturbations (intrinsic flow instability). The inlet pulsatile forcing is found to affect strongly the overall flow structure behind the step, resulting in the reattachment length reduction and the reverse flow intensification