Comparison between two and three-dimensional POD in a turbulent boundary layer using multi-plane stereoscopic PIV

A comparison between two- and three-dimensional analyses using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is performed. The investigated flow field is a turbulent boundary layer in a flume. The decomposition is applied to the vorticity fields measured using a multi-plane stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement system. The decomposition was applied using two methods: A) two-dimensional slices of the data that were used separately in a so-called slice-POD, and B) as a volumetric dataset that provides 3D-POD modes. Linear combination of the first three modes, energy distribution and reconstruction of snapshots are compared. Both decompositions capture most of the turbulent flow patterns; yet, the lower order modes show significant discrepancies between the slice-POD and 3D-POD. Therefore, in order to characterize coherent structures in turbulent flows, it is essential to perform both two- and three-dimensional decompositions. These two methods complement each other and can provide an improved interpretation of various flow features.