Turbulent flow past a transverse cavity with inclined side walls. 1. Flow structure

The process of vortex formation in a cavity with inclined walls, which has a moderate aspect ratio, is experimentally studied, and the distribution of pressure coefficients is measured. The angle of inclination of the side walls $\varphi$ is varied from 30 to 90$^\circ$. It is found that the flow in the cavity becomes unstable in the range of inclination angles $\varphi$ = 60–70$^\circ$. Flow reconstruction occurs, which substantially alters the surface-temperature and static-pressure distributions. Large changes in these characteristics and their nonuniform distributions for these angles are observed across the cavity on its frontal wall and on the bottom. For small angles ($\varphi$ = 30 and 45$^\circ$), the pressure on the rear wall drastically increases, which leads to a small increase in pressure averaged over the entire cavity surface.