Changes in flat plate wake characteristics obtained with decreasing plate thickness

The near and very near wake of a flat plate with a circular trailing edge is investigated with data from direct numerical simulations. Computations were performed for four different Reynolds numbers based on plate thickness (D) and at constant plate length. The value of θ/D varies by a factor of approximately 20 in the computations (θ being the boundary layer momentum thickness at the trailing edge). The separating boundary layers are turbulent in all the cases. One objective of the study is to understand the changes in wake characteristics with changing θ/D (as obtained by decreasing D). Vortex shedding is vigorous in the low θ/D cases with a substantial decrease in shedding intensity in the largest θ/D case (for all practical purposes shedding becomes almost intermittent). Other characteristics that are significantly altered with increasing θ/D are the roll-up of the detached shear layers and the magnitude of fluctuations in shedding period. These effects are explored in depth. The effects of changing θ/D on the distributions of the time-averaged, near-wake velocity statistics are discussed.