Anisotropic character of low-order turbulent flow descriptions through the proper orthogonal decomposition

Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is applied to distinct data sets in order to characterize the propagation of error arising from basis truncation in the description of turbulence. Experimental data from stereo particle image velocimetry measurements in a wind turbine array and direct numerical simulation data from a fully developed channel flow are used to illustrate dependence of the anisotropy tensor invariants as a function of POD modes used in low-order descriptions. In all cases, ensembles of snapshots illuminate a variety of anisotropic states of turbulence. In the near wake of a model wind turbine, the turbulence field reflects the periodic interaction between the incoming flow and rotor blade. The far wake of the wind turbine is more homogenous, confirmed by the increased magnitude of the anisotropy factor. By contrast, the channel flow exhibits many anisotropic states of turbulence. In the inner layer of the wall-bounded region, one observes one-component turbulence at the wall; immediately above, the turbulence is dominated by two components, with the outer layer showing fully three-dimensional turbulence, conforming to theory for wall-bounded turbulence. The complexity of flow descriptions resulting from truncated POD bases can be greatly mitigated by severe basis truncations. However, the current work demonstrates that such simplification necessarily exaggerates the anisotropy of the modeled flow and, in extreme cases, can lead to the loss of three-dimensionality. Application of simple corrections to the low-order descriptions of the Reynolds stress tensor significantly reduces the residual root-mean-square error. Similar error reduction is seen in the anisotropy tensor invariants. Corrections of this form reintroduce three-dimensionality to severe truncations of POD bases. A threshold for truncating the POD basis based on the equivalent anisotropy factor for each measurement set required many more modes than a threshold based on energy. The mode requirement to reach the anisotropy threshold after correction is reduced by a full order of magnitude for all example data sets, ensuring that economical low-dimensional models account for the isotropic quality of the turbulence field.