ABSTRACT
Structures of interest in this book can generally be classified as bluff bodies with respect to the air flow around them, in contrast to streamlined bodies, such as aircraft wings and yacht sails (when the boat is sailing across the wind). Figure 4.1 shows the flow patterns around an airfoil (at a low angle of attack), and around a two-dimensional body of a rectangular cross-section. The flow patterns are shown for steady free-stream flow; turbulence in the approaching flow, which occurs in the atmospheric boundary layer, as discussed in Chapter 3, can modify the flow around a bluff body, as will be discussed later.
