POD analysis on the sphere wake at a subcritical Reynolds number

Abstract  

Flow characteristics of turbulent wake behind a sphere at a subcritical flow regime were experimentally investigated. The particle image velocimetry measurements and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modal analysis were employed to get detailed flow information such as the wavy structure, swirling motion and coherent structures of the sphere wake. The variation of turbulent intensities of the radial and circumferential velocity components showed the swirling motion of sphere wake in the cross-sectional planes. The relative contribution of the POD mode 1, 2 and 3 in eigenvalues was 26, 11, and 8%, respectively. The general pattern of velocity fields for the POD mode 1 in the near-wake region of x/d = 0.7–1.4 is similar with that of time-averaged mean velocity fields. In addition, the sweeping flow in the region from x/d = 1.5 to x/d = 2.0 possesses wavy structure of the sphere wake. The experimental results of the present study would contribute to the fundamental understanding of the turbulent near-wake behind a sphere.