Dynamics of Cavity Flow Oscillations
Summary
The oscillatory motion of fluid within cavities emerges whenever a high-speed flow interacts with a recess or cavity in a solid surface. At the cavity mouth, a shear layer forms and spans the opening. Under certain flow velocities and cavity geometries, instabilities in this layer give rise to self-sustained oscillations. These oscillations are driven by a feedback loop in which disturbances in the shear layer impinge on the downstream edge, generate acoustic waves that travel upstream, and excite new instabilities. The resonance frequencies depend on the cavity length-to-depth ratio, boundary-layer characteristics and free-stream conditions, and may manifest as transverse or longitudinal modes. Such oscillations can produce high-amplitude pressure fluctuations, leading to noise generation, structural vibrations and performance penalties in aerospace, automotive and energy applications. Recent advances in high-fidelity simulations and flow-control strategies have deepened our understanding of the fluid–acoustic coupling mechanisms and opened pathways towards active and passive suppression of cavity-induced oscillations.
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Dynamics of Cavity Flow Oscillations publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in dynamics of cavity flow oscillations across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Shear layer: A region of velocity gradient forming between the free stream and the cavity interior, prone to instability.
Recirculation zone: A region of trapped circulating flow within the cavity, sustaining oscillatory motion.
Acoustic resonance: Amplification of pressure waves due to feedback between flow disturbances and the cavity geometry.
Large-eddy simulation: A computational fluid-dynamics approach that resolves large turbulent structures while modelling smaller scales.
Gradient-enriched machine learning control: A feedback optimisation technique that combines machine learning with gradient information to rapidly stabilise flow oscillations.
References
- A wall-resolved large-eddy simulation of deep cavity flow in acoustic resonance. Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2021).
- Subsonic cavity flow control with Micro-Magneto-Mechanical Systems (MMMS) microvalves. Sensors and Actuators A Physical (2023).
- Stabilization of a multi-frequency open cavity flow with gradient-enriched machine learning control. Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2023).
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