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Three-dimensional coupling between freely falling bodies and their 3D wakes
Freely falling bodies in an initially quiescent fluid can exhibit many different path patterns depending on body geometry, size and weight. The characteristics of a given path are known to be strongly linked to the wake induced by the body. The study of path-wake interaction is relevant for many problems in mechanical engineering, aerodynamics, meteorology, sediment transport, seeds dispersion or insect flight. In addition, rigid body motions or bending oscillations can appear when additional parameters, as purely three-dimensional geometries, or flexible materials, are added to the problem. In this talk, the experimental results obtained using 3D Particle Tracking Velocimetry (“Shake-The-Box” method) and tomographic reconstruction will be presented to characterize the coupling between the freely falling bodies as cylinders or plates and their wake. The appearance of new rigid body motions and bending oscillations regimes will be discussed for the cylinders while for the 3D plates, a new falling kinematic will be presented too.