Characterization of the turbulent bistable flow regime of a 2D bluff body wake disturbed by a small control cylinder

A small control cylinder placed in a turbulent wake of a much larger 2D bluff body can cause a significant increase in drag fluctuations. These fluctuations occur on timescales longer than the timescales of the vortex shedding. The critical positions of the control cylinder are highly localized. Ensemble averages of PIV acquisitions and pressure measurements at the base of the bluff body reveal a bistable wake regime. Long duration hot-wire measurements are used to characterize the states and the transition process. The results show that a stochastic process is responsible for the transitions between the two stable states.