Large-scale sinusoidal gust effect on aerodynamic pressures and forces on a square cylinder

Aerodynamic pressures and forces on a two-dimensional square cylinder were experimentally investigated in large-scale sinusoidal gusts. The effects of streamwise and transverse gusts with a wide range of gust amplitudes were studied at a Reynolds number of Re = 2.1 × 10⁴. To enhance our understanding of the large-scale sinusoidal gust effect, the pressure fields and global aerodynamic forces of the square cylinder in large-scale gusts were compared with those in smooth and grid-generated turbulent flows. This study shows that both large-scale streamwise and transverse gusts can promote early pressure recovery, resulting in larger mean pressures on the side and leeward surfaces. The root mean square (RMS) of the pressures on the side surface increased and decreased with an increase in the streamwise and transverse gust amplitudes, respectively. The mean drag on the square cylinder was reduced under the effects of large-scale streamwise and transverse gusts. The increase in the streamwise and transverse gust amplitudes significantly affected the RMS of the drag and lift on the square cylinder, respectively. A proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis showed that the contribution of the first POD mode switched from fluctuating lift to drag when the streamwise gust amplitude was very high. The spectral analysis demonstrated that the alternating von Kármán vortex-shedding process still dominated the fluctuating lift under the effect of large-scale gusts. In addition, the spanwise correlations of drag were significantly strong under the effects of large-scale streamwise gusts. However, the spanwise correlations of lift were reduced under the effects of large-scale gusts with high gust amplitudes. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd