A particle image velocimetry study of the flow physics generated by a thin lamina oscillating in a viscous fluid

In this paper, we study the flow physics produced by a thin rigid lamina oscillating in an otherwise quiescent viscous fluid. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to extract the flow kinematics, which is, in turn, utilized to reconstruct the pressure distribution around the lamina through the integration of Navier-Stokes equations. The hydrodynamic loading experienced by the lamina is ultimately estimated from PIV data to investigate added mass and fluid damping phenomena. Experiments are conducted for varying Reynolds and Keulegan-Carpenter numbers to elucidate the relative weight of inertial, convective, and viscous phenomena on the resulting flow physics. In agreement with prior numerical studies, experimental results demonstrate that increasing the Reynolds and the Keulegan-Carpenter numbers results into the formation of coherent structures that are shed at the edges of the lamina and advected by the flow. This phenomenon is associated with nonlinearities in the hydrodynamic loading, whereby fluid damping is found to increase nonlinearly with the oscillation of the lamina.