A laboratory water channel experiment was made of the separated flow o
ver a backward-facing step. The flow was excited by a sinusoidally osc
illating jet issuing from a separation line. The slit was connected to
a cavity in which water was forced through a rigid pipe by a scotch-y
oke system. The Reynolds number based on the step height (H) was fixed
at Re-H = 1200. The forcing frequency was varied in the range 0.305 l
ess than or equal to St(H) less than or equal to 0.955 at the forcing
amplitude A(o) = 0.3. Time-averaged flow measurements were made by a L
DV system, especially in the recirculating region behind the backward-
facing step. To characterize the large-scale vortex evolution due to t
he local forcing, flow visualizations were performed by a dye tracer m
ethod with fluorescent ink. The vortex amalgamation process was captur
ed at the effective forcing frequency (St(H) = 0.477) for laminar sepa
ration. This vortex merging process enhances flow mixing, which leads
to the shortening of the reattachment length.