Phase proper orthogonal decomposition of non-stationary turbulent flow

Abstract: A phase proper orthogonal decomposition (Phase POD) method is demonstrated, utilizing phase averaging for the decomposition of spatio-temporal behaviour of statistically non-stationary turbulent flows in an optimized manner. The proposed Phase POD method is herein applied to a periodically forced statistically non-stationary lid-driven cavity flow, implemented using the snapshot proper orthogonal decomposition algorithm. Space-phase modes are extracted to describe the dynamics of the chaotic flow, in which four central flow patterns are identified for describing the evolution of the energetic structures as a function of phase. The modal building blocks of the energy transport equation are demonstrated as a function of the phase. The triadic interaction term can here be interpreted as the convective transport of bi-modal interactions. Non-local energy transfer is observed as a result of the non-stationarity of the dynamical processes inducing triadic interactions spanning across a wide range of mode numbers.