Growth of randomness in a spatially developing wake

Abstract

The spatially evolving vortical structures and randomness statistics at various downstream locations of a plane wake are examined. The growth of the continuous components of the power spectra in such a wake are systematically investigated. Selective amplification of the fundamental mode from the broadband noise is found in the linear region. The fundamental mode of large-magnitude locking in the wake suppresses the noise growth. When the wake is forced by large-amplitude random phase noise, nonlinear interactions of a few beating modes whose frequencies are close to the fundamental one play a crucial role in randomizing the wake. In this case, the vorticity contours show randomizing vortical structure of the wake. Pairing motion of the same-sign vortices is seen in the randomizing region.