Assessment of a three-component vorticity probe in decaying turbulence

Measurements in grid turbulence with a three-component hot-wire vorticity probe are compared with results obtained from a direct numerical simulation of decaying homogeneous turbulence at a similar Reynolds number. There is adequate agreement for both spectra and probability density functions of all three vorticity fluctuations. This supports the treatment of the measured data, in particular the corrections that need to be applied for the finite spatial resolution of the probe. The comparison does, however, highlight some inaccuracies in the way the instantaneous dissipation rate fluctuations were obtained experimentally.