Abstract
The viscous flow around several different bluff body geometries (rectangles, triangles and T-shapes) of varying length-to-breath ratio L/D is investigated using a hybrid discrete vortex method. The results for the rectangular geometries show the drag coefficient increasing with decreasing length/breadth ratio, with no evidence of a maximum as observed experimentally at higher Reynolds numbers. The triangular geometries however show evidence of a maximum at L/D ~ 0.2. In both cases the Strouhal number St attains a maximum at about L/D ~ 0.3, but for relatively long bodies the shedding frequency appears to be much less for triangles than rectangles. The principle difference appears in the r.m.s. lift, with the lift forces on the triangles being much greater than for the rectangular bodies for all L/D > 0.5.