On the use of incomplete sensitivities for feedback control of laminar vortex shedding

A feedback control method based on incomplete sensitivities and gradient evaluation by complex variable method is proposed and applied to the problem of the control of the laminar vortex shedding past a circular cylinder. This procedure results in a low-cost control algorithm, which does not require to compute the gradient of the Navier–Stokes solution with respect to the controllers. For the sake of usability for practical applications, realistic sensors and actuators are used. Validation simulations aiming at controlling the drag of the cylinder are presented and compared with previous published results, proving the efficiency of the proposed method. Application to the control of the cylinder lift is also shown.