The whole flow over a solid body covered by a porous layer is presented. The three main models used in the literature to compute efficiently the fluid flow are given: the reduction of the porous layer to a boundary condition, the coupling of Darcy equation with Navier–Stokes equations and the Brinkman–Navier–Stokes equations or the penalisation method. Numerical simulations on Cartesian grids using the latest model give easily accurate solutions of the flow around solid bodies with or without porous layers. Adding appropriate porous devices to the solid bodies, an efficient passive control of the two-dimensional incompressible flow is achieved. A strong regularisation of the flow is observed and a significant reduction of the vortex induced vibrations or the drag coefficient is obtained.