This project investigates the use of active flow control on square bluff bodies relevant to tall buildings. The research seeks to ameliorate the unsteady loading by controlling the formation and development of the von-Kármán vortex street, which is known to be the cause of undesirable building motion. More specifically, a fluidic jet is periodically excited at each of leading edges of a square prism where the shear layers separate and evolve into the large-scale vortex shedding in the wake.

Applying bio-mimicry intelligence to the aerodynamic performance of tall slender buildings has potential to lead to not only improved response to wind loading, but generate savings in material and construction costs, affect energy consumption by providing self-shading and controlling local air flow to promote local wind energy generation and ventilation strategies.

As wind turbines increase in size in order to capture more power, so do much of the adverse natural effects such as wind gusts and atmospheric turbulence. Specifically, one of the largest factors in wind turbine fatigue has been shown to be dynamic stall, a phenomena where the angle of attack seen by the turbine blade passes in and out of its stall angle, resulting in highly fluctuating blade loading. Our goal is to mitigate these loads by using active flow control to make wind turbines last longer.