Empirical scaling of antisymmetric stratified wakes

Overview & Synopsis

Initially turbulent wakes of a propelled cylinder at nonzero angles of yaw to the mean flow were measured in the horizontal centerplane plane up to approximately 100 buoyancy times, where vertical velocities are very small. The profiles of mean velocity were found to be antisymmetric throughout their lifetime, with both width and maximum velocity decaying at the same rate as previously studied momentum wakes. The maximum velocity of the profile is proportional to the angle of yaw, but the width is constant. Both the mean flow and fluctuating quantities show that the late wake is self-similar, with scaling laws that are consistent with previous work on propelled and drag wakes.