Wall shear stress characterization of a 3D bluff-body separated flow

Efficient flow control strategies aimed at reducing the aerodynamic drag of road vehicles require a detailed knowledge of the reference flow. In this work, the flow around the rear slanted window of a generic car model was experimentally studied through wall shear stress measurements using an electrochemical method. The mean and fluctuating wall shear stress within the wall impact regions of the recirculation bubble and the main longitudinal vortex structures which develop above the rear window are presented. Correlations allow a more detailed characterization of the recirculation phenomenon within the separation bubble. In the model symmetry plane the recirculation structure compares well with simpler 2D configurations; specific lengths, flapping motion and shedding of large-scale vortices are observed, these similarities diminish when leaving the middle plane due to the strong three-dimensionality of the flow. A specific attention is paid to the convection processes occurring within the recirculation: a downstream convection velocity is observed, in accordance with 2D recirculations from the literature, and an upstream convection is highlighted along the entire bubble length which has not been underlined in some previous canonical configurations.