Impact of dynamic subgrid scale modeling in variational multiscale large-eddy simulation of bluff-body flows the date of receipt and acceptance should be inserted later Abstract The effects of dynamic subgrid scale (SGS) modeling are investigated in variational multiscale (VMS) LES simulations of bluff-body flows. The spatial discretization is based on a mixed finite element/finite volume formulation on unstructured grids. In the VMS approach used in this work, the separation between the largest and the smallest resolved scales is obtained through a variational projection operator and a finite volume cell agglomeration. The dynamic and non-dynamic versions of Smagorinsky and WALE SGS models are used to account for the effects of the unresolved scales. In the VMS approach, these effects are only modeled in the smallest resolved scales. The VMS-LES and classical LES approaches, combined with the considered dynamic and non-dynamic SGS models, are applied to the simulation of the flow around a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers 3900 and 20000 and to the flow around a square cylinder at Reynolds numbers 22000 and 175000.