Incoherent turbulence structure in the near wake of a normal plate

Abstract

In this paper experimentally studied characteristics of various frequency components of incoherent velocity fluctuations in the near wake behind a thin normal plate immersed in a uniform flow are described. Measurements were made at a position 8 plate heights downstream of the plate where the wake had a marked periodicity, so that coherent vortices shed from the plate are expected to have a small dispersion in streamwise spacing, transverse location, strength and shape. Shearing stress associated with the incoherent fluctuations is mainly contributed by components with frequencies around half of the vortex-shedding frequency f_s on one side of the wake. The ½f_s frequency component appears to be caused by the spanwise locations of ribs, which are connected to the coherent vortices, being different from vortex to vortex. A probable spanwise arrangement of the ribs is suggested.