Comparative visualization of accelerating flow around various bodies, starting from rest

Separation, vortex formation and turbulent decay are visualized for accelerating air flow around various bodies, starting from rest. The bodies investigated were a cylinder, a sphere, a flat plate, a round plate and an NACA 0015 airfoil. All bodies had the same characteristic length (body diameter or chord length) and were subjected to the same flow acceleration resulting in the same Reynolds number and allowing for a meaningful comparison.