Passive Control of Bifurcation Phenomenon in Sudden Expansion Flow

The laminar flow in a two-dimensional channel may produce either symmetric or non-symmetric steady solutions, depending on the value of the critical Reynolds number. It has been concluded by several researchers that the flow remains symmetric up to a certain Reynolds number depending upon the expansion ratio, while asymmetries appear at higher Reynolds numbers. The geometric expansion ratio in the current study is chosen to be 1: 3, and the bifurcation phenomenon has been investigated for this sudden expansion flow. A passive control mechanism is introduced by inserting a two-dimensional plate in the flow with the aim of stabilizing the unstable symmetric flow configuration in the channel. The computations indicate that the critical Reynolds number of the symmetry-breaking bifurcation increases as the length of the plate increases.