Proportional feedback control of laminar flow over a hemisphere

In the present study, we perform a proportional feedback control of laminar flow over a hemisphere at Re = 300 to reduce its lift fluctuations by attenuating the strength of the vortex shedding. As a control input, blowing/suction is distributed on the surface of hemisphere before the separation, and its strength is linearly proportional to the transverse velocity at a sensing location in the centerline of the wake. The sensing location is determined based on a correlation function between the lift force and the time derivative of sensing velocity. The optimal proportional gains for the proportional control are obtained for the sensing locations considered. The present control successfully attenuates the velocity fluctuations at the sensing location and three dimensional vortical structures in the wake, resulting in the reduction of lift fluctuations of hemisphere.