Uncovering large-scale coherent

structures in natural and forced

turbulent wakes by combining
PIV, POD and FTLE
Particle Image Velocimetry, Proper Orthogonal
Decomposition, Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent
Leonidas Kourentis and
Efstathios Konstantinidis*
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Western Macedonia, Kozani, Greece
Fluid mechanics principles
Eulerian description
Study of the fluid motion in
a specified control volume
Coordinate system fixed in
space (laboratory frame of
reference)
No information on dynamics
of fluid elements (particles)
Lagrangian description
Study of the motion of fluid
particles moving with the
flow
Coordinate system not fixed
in space (moving frame of
reference)
Information on dynamics of
fluid particles depends on
their initial position
Eduction of coherent structures is a
fundamental issue in fluid mechanics
Coherent structures in the wake
of cylinders in cross-flow
Primary flow instability
associated with vortex
formation and shedding
Important role for the
transport of momentum and
heat/mass in natural and
technological processes
Dye visualization provides a
good indication at low
Reynolds numbers
At high Reynolds numbers,
turbulent dispersion renders
above method ineffective
Particle methods
Particle visualization can
provide limited information
on coherent structures
Long-exposure images of
fluorescent particles can
enhance description
Tracing the motion of many
individual particles yet
cumbersome
PIV: no information on
Lagrangian dynamics
Images of reflecting particles in the
forced wake of a circular cylinder
Motion of particles

Perturbation

Deformation tensor Cauchy-Green (flow map)


Lyapunov exponent



Ridges in FTLE field reveal Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS)
Developed by Haller (2002) and Shadden et al. (2006)

Integration in time

Backward attractive LCS (aLCS)

Forward repelling LCS (rLCS)
Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE)
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
( ; , ) ( ( ; , ), )
( ; , )
t t t t t
t t
=
=
x x v x x
x x x
0

0 0
( ) ( ; , )
t
t
t t | =
0
x x x
d ( , , ) d ( , , )
d d
x t T x t T
x x
| |
A =
T
0
( )
max
max ( ) (0) (0)
T
t
T
T e
o
o o o = =
x
x x x
0
max
1
( ) ln ( )
T
t
T
o = A x
(0) o = + y x x
(0) ox
Verification of FTLE methodology
Plots show results derived from
computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) using an in-house code
with weightless particles injected
into the flow


FTLE integration time = 4 periods
180
o
U D
Re
v
= =
Aims and objectives
Determine FTLE distributions in the cylinder
wake using reconstructed PIV data
Provide an insightful quantitative visualization of
the large-scale coherent structures associated
with vortex shedding
Understand the effect of forced perturbations on
the mechanism of vortex formation and shedding
in the lock-on regime
Basic configuration
Inflow with superimposed
periodic velocity oscillations
Circular cylinder
perpendicular to
the incident flow
Main parameters:
Present results: 2150 2.02 0.23
Vortex shedding lock-on
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
=
InFlow Oscillations
Armstong et al. (1986), Re = 21

500
Barbi et al. (1986), Re = 3

000
Barbi et al. (1986), Re = 40

000
Konstantinidis et al (2003), Re = 2

150
Konstantinidis et al, Re = 2

150
Cylinder Oscillations
Tatsuno (1972), Re = 100
Tanida et al. (1973), Re = 80
Tanida et al. (1973), Re = 4

000
Griffin & Ramberg (1976), Re = 190
Nishihara et al (2004), Re = 17000
a AU
d 2t

f
e
d
primary
lock-on
range


f
e
/ f
o
Reynolds number dependence ?
Experimental setup
Water tunnel (72mm x 72mm) at Kings College
Pulsating inflow (rotating slot valve, adjustable
frequency and amplitude)
Circular cylinder (aspect ratio = 10, no end-plates)
Phase-referencing (optical shaft encoder)
Laser-Doppler Velocimetry (high temporal resolution)
PIV (2C, high spatial resolution, optimized settings)
PIV snapshots unforced flow
Uncorrelated instantaneous velocity fields
PIV snapshots forced flow
Modification of vortex characteristics
x/d
y
/
d
0 1 2 3
-1
0
1
Effect of forcing on time-averaged
wake structure
x/d
y
/
d
0 1 2 3
-1
0
1
x/d
y
/
d
0 1 2 3 4
-1
0
1
AU/U
m
= 0.23
0.36
x/d
y
/
d
0 1 2 3 4
-1
0
1
AU/U
m
= 0.00
0.16
x/d
y
/
d
0 1 2 3 4
-1
0
1
AU/U
m
= 0.00
0.094
x/d
y
/
d
0 1 2 3 4
-1
0
1
AU/U
m
= 0.23
0.20
Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD)
Orthogonal (Empirical) Basis
Functions

Method of Snapshots
(Sirovich, 1987)

Basic spatio-temporal modes
ranked according to
decreasing kinetic energy
(given by the eigenvalues of
the corresponding modes)

1
0
( , ) ( ) ( )
M
i k i k
k
t a t

=
= u

v x x
= C A A

1
0
( ) ( , )
M
j j k k
k
a t t

=
u =

v x
1
( , ) ( , )
M
ij i j
k
c t t
=
=

v x v x
Energy spectrum
Threshold for noise corruption (Epps & Techet, 2010)
= 0.036, N =450, M = 4584
Spatial structure of POD modes
Natural wake Forced wake
Phase reconstruction
Frequency obtained from time-resolved LDV data
Reconstructed velocity/vorticity
data and derived FTLE fields
Natural
wake
Forced
wake
FTLE distributions
Natural wake
Forced wake
Comparison
Laminar wake
Turbulent wake
(low-order dynamics)
Combination of attracting and repelling
coherent structures in the natural wake
aLCS
rLCS
Combination of attracting and repelling
coherent structures in the forced wake
aLCS
rLCS
Conclusions
The FTLE method can be successfully employed to uncover large-
scale coherent structures
Visualization of the Bernhard von Karman vortex street in both natural and
forced turbulent wakes
Provides additional information on the vortex formation mechanism
The spatio-temporal dynamics characterising the global flow
organization in the cylinder wake can be captured by the two most
energetic POD modes
Basic vortex structure is not affected by forced excitation (actually enhanced)
but the driving mechanism of the formation process is different
Dynamics of coherent structures in cylinder wakes are remarkably
similar over a wide range of Reynolds numbers from 200 - 20010
3

Modelling of the wake dynamics is important for practical applications, e.g.
prediction of vortex-induced vibrations