Combined proper orthogonal decompositions of orthogonal subspaces

Abstract: We present a method for combining proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) bases optimized with respect to different norms into a single complete basis. We produce a basis combining decompositions optimized with respect to turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and dissipation rate. The method consists of projecting a data set into the subspace spanned by the lowest several TKE optimized POD modes, followed by decomposing the complementary component of the data set using dissipation optimized POD velocity modes. The method can be fine-tuned by varying the number of TKE optimized modes, and may be generalized to accommodate any combination of decompositions. We show that the combined basis reduces the degree of non-orthogonality compared to dissipation optimized velocity modes. The convergence rate of the combined modal reconstruction of the TKE production is shown to exceed that of the energy and dissipation based decompositions. This is achieved by utilizing the different spatial focuses of TKE and dissipation optimized decompositions.