On the turbulent wake of the actuated fluidic pinball: dynamics, bifurcations and control authority

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Rodríguez-Asensio, Alicia, Marra, Luigi, Andreu-Angulo, Ignacio, Meilán-Vila, Andrea, Moreno, Juan Alfaro, Maceda, Guy Y. Cornejo, Noack, Bernd R., Ianiro, Andrea, Discetti, Stefano
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Rodríguez-Asensio, Alicia
Marra, Luigi
Andreu-Angulo, Ignacio
Meilán-Vila, Andrea
Moreno, Juan Alfaro
Maceda, Guy Y. Cornejo
Noack, Bernd R.
Ianiro, Andrea
Discetti, Stefano
author_facet Rodríguez-Asensio, Alicia
Marra, Luigi
Andreu-Angulo, Ignacio
Meilán-Vila, Andrea
Moreno, Juan Alfaro
Maceda, Guy Y. Cornejo
Noack, Bernd R.
Ianiro, Andrea
Discetti, Stefano
contents We present the first comprehensive experimental and numerical study featuring the turbulent wake of the fluidic pinball for a large actuation range. The fluidic pinball is a cluster of three equal circular cylinders centered on the vertices of an equilateral triangle, pointing upstream in uniform flow. This configuration has become a canonical benchmark for control-oriented reduced-order modeling, for nonlinear control design and for a large kaleidoscope of drag reduction mechanisms. While the literature covers well the laminar two-dimensional Reynolds number regime, we focus on unexplored terra incognita: experiments of the symmetrically actuated turbulent regime at a Reynolds number of Re=9100. In other words, the upstream cylinder is kept stationary, while the two downstream cylinders rotate with equal and opposite angular velocities. A large range of base-bleeding and boat-tailing actuation parameters is investigated with time-resolved particle image velocimetry and aerodynamic force measurement with a companion Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation. Our results indicate that the turbulent wake of the fluidic pinball can be approximated by a three-dimensional actuation manifold comprising two inverse pitchfork bifurcations. In the boat-tailing limit, a reduced control authority with a new low-frequency shedding state is observed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_17713
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the turbulent wake of the actuated fluidic pinball: dynamics, bifurcations and control authority
Rodríguez-Asensio, Alicia
Marra, Luigi
Andreu-Angulo, Ignacio
Meilán-Vila, Andrea
Moreno, Juan Alfaro
Maceda, Guy Y. Cornejo
Noack, Bernd R.
Ianiro, Andrea
Discetti, Stefano
Fluid Dynamics
We present the first comprehensive experimental and numerical study featuring the turbulent wake of the fluidic pinball for a large actuation range. The fluidic pinball is a cluster of three equal circular cylinders centered on the vertices of an equilateral triangle, pointing upstream in uniform flow. This configuration has become a canonical benchmark for control-oriented reduced-order modeling, for nonlinear control design and for a large kaleidoscope of drag reduction mechanisms. While the literature covers well the laminar two-dimensional Reynolds number regime, we focus on unexplored terra incognita: experiments of the symmetrically actuated turbulent regime at a Reynolds number of Re=9100. In other words, the upstream cylinder is kept stationary, while the two downstream cylinders rotate with equal and opposite angular velocities. A large range of base-bleeding and boat-tailing actuation parameters is investigated with time-resolved particle image velocimetry and aerodynamic force measurement with a companion Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation. Our results indicate that the turbulent wake of the fluidic pinball can be approximated by a three-dimensional actuation manifold comprising two inverse pitchfork bifurcations. In the boat-tailing limit, a reduced control authority with a new low-frequency shedding state is observed.
title On the turbulent wake of the actuated fluidic pinball: dynamics, bifurcations and control authority
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17713