Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
Numerical simulations are performed to study three-dimensional hydrodynamic flows in a sudden expansion of rectangular ducts. Separation phenomena are investigated through the analysis of flow topology and streamline patterns. Scaling laws describing the evolution of the reattachment length of the vortical areas that appear behind the cross-section enlargement are derived. The results discussed in this paper are required as a starting point to investigate the effects of an applied homogeneous magnetic field on separation phenomena in a geometry with a sudden expansion.