Control of wake and vortex shedding behind a porous circular obstacle by exerting an external magnetic field

• The formation and shedding of wakes behind a porous bluff-body are investigated.
• Effects of a magnetic field on controlling the wake formation is explored.
• Roles of Darcy, Reynolds and Stuart numbers on the flow behavior are analyzed.
• Flow patterns change with Reynolds number and Darcy numbers.
• The critical Stuart number decreases with increased Darcy numbers.

In this article the finite volume method (FVM) is carried out to simulate the flow around and through a two-dimensional porous cylinder. An external magnetic field is used to control the wake behind the bluff body and also to suppress the vortex shedding phenomena. The Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model has been used for modeling the flow in the porous medium. Effects of Stuart (N), Reynolds (Re) and Darcy (Da) numbers on the flow behavior have been investigated. The results show that the critical Stuart number for suppress vortex shedding decreases with increasing the Darcy numbers. Also, the Stuart number for disappearance the re-circulating wake increases with increased Reynolds number for both porous and solid cylinders.