Spatio-temporal proper orthogonal decomposition of turbulent channel flow

An extension of proper orthogonal decomposition is applied to the wall layer of a turbulent channel flow ( $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}=590$ ), so that empirical eigenfunctions are defined in both space and time. Due to the statistical symmetries of the flow, the eigenfunctions are associated with individual wavenumbers and frequencies. Self-similarity of the dominant eigenfunctions, consistent with wall-attached structures transferring energy into the core region, is established. The most energetic modes are characterized by a fundamental time scale in the range 200–300 viscous wall units. The full spatio-temporal decomposition provides a natural measure of the convection velocity of structures, with a characteristic value of 12 $u_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}$ in the wall layer. Finally, we show that the energy budget can be split into specific contributions for each mode, which provides a closed-form expression for nonlinear effects.