On the large-scale structure of the turbulent wake of a flat plate

A simple heat-tagging technique was used to isolate and analyze the large-scale coherent structures present in the two-dimensional wake of a flat plate. The results indicate the presence of these coherent structures even at 250 momentum thicknesses downstream of the trailing edge. These structures have a vortexlike topology and carry a significant amount of the total shear stress. The present results for the flat-plate wake seem to be in general agreement with those that have been obtained in cylinder wakes by other comtemporary investigators using more complex techniques of eduction and signal enhancement.