Two-point coherence of wave packets in turbulent jets

An experiment has been performed in order to provide support for wave-packet jet-noise modeling efforts. Recent work has shown that the nonlinear effects responsible for the two-point coherence of wave packets must be correctly accounted for if accurate sound prediction is to be achieved for subsonic turbulent jets. We therefore consider the same Mach 0.4 turbulent jet studied by Cavalieri et al. [Cavalieri et al., J. Fluid Mech. 730, 559 (2013)], but this time using two independent but synchronized, time-resolved stereo particle-image velocimetry systems. Each system can be moved independently, allowing simultaneous measurement of velocity in two, axially separated, crossflow planes, enabling eduction of the two-point coherence of wave packets. This and the associated length scales and phase speeds are studied and compared with those of the energy-containing turbulent eddies. The study illustrates how the two-point behavior of wave packets is fundamentally different from that of the more usually studied bulk two-point behavior, suggesting that sound-source modeling efforts should be reconsidered in the framework of wave packets. The study furthermore identifies two families of two-point-coherence behavior, respectively upstream and downstream of the end of the potential core, regions where linear theory is, respectively, successful and unsuccessful in predicting the axial evolution of wave-packets fluctuation energy.