On the hydrodynamic and acoustic nature of pressure proper orthogonal decomposition modes in the near field of a compressible jet

In this work an experimental investigation of the near-field pressure of a compressible jet is presented. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the pressure fluctuations measured by a linear array of microphones is performed in order to provide the streamwise evolution of the jet structure. The wavenumber–frequency spectrum of the space–time pressure fields re-constructed using each POD mode is computed in order to provide the physical interpretation of the mode in terms of hydrodynamic/acoustic nature. Specifically, non-radiating hydrodynamic, radiating acoustic and ‘hybrid’ hydro-acoustic modes are found based on the phase velocity associated with the spectral energy bumps in the wavenumber–frequency domain. Furthermore, the propagation direction in the far field of the radiating POD modes is detected through the cross-correlation with the measured far-field noise. Modes associated with noise emissions from large/fine scale turbulent structures radiating in the downstream/sideline direction in the far field are thus identified.