Comparison between velocity- and vorticity-based POD methods in a turbulent wake

In this paper, the velocity-based POD and the vorticity-based POD have been systematically compared in three characteristic regions of the flow downstream of a two-dimensional circular cylinder, namely the near, intermediate and far wakes. The two-point space correlation function is used to determine which of the two methods is better suited for extracting the large-scale flow structures based on the repartition of energy among the different POD modes. It is found that the POD, based on the lateral velocity fluctuation v, leads to the most optimum extraction in all three flow regions, while the vorticity-based POD is only effective in the near and intermediate wakes. Based on two-point space correlation functions, a scenario is proposed for the application of POD to the present two-dimensional wake.