The effect of the Reynolds number on the Reynolds stresses and vorticity in a turbulent far-wake

Using two orthogonal arrays of 16 X-wires, eight in the (x,y)-plane and eight in the (x,z)-plane, the effect of the Reynolds number in a turbulent plane far-wake has been investigated for two values of Re_θ (based on the free stream velocity and the momentum thickness), i.e. 1350 and 4600. It is observed that as the Reynolds number increases the magnitudes of the measured Reynolds stresses increase, as does the size of two-point vorticity correlation iso-contours. Discernible differences are also observed in probability density function, spectra and three-dimensional topologies. The Reynolds number dependence seems to vanish when Re_θ5000.