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Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) is used to investigate the low-frequency behavior of a pressure-induced turbulent separation bubble (TSB) generated on a one-sided diffuser at a nominal velocity of 20 m/s. The input to the decomposition is the unsteady wall shear stress determined experimentally with an array of novel calorimetric shear-stress sensors. The SPOD spectrum indicates low-rank behavior for frequencies below 10 Hz, which correspond to Strouhal numbers Sr<0.1 when built with the average TSB length and the nominal incoming velocity. A low-order model constructed with only the first SPOD mode at each frequency up to 10 Hz reveals that the TSB is contracting and expanding in a manner reminiscent of the low-frequency breathing motion recently documented in other TSBs. A comparison between SPOD and space-only proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) indicates that both decompositions are able to capture the low-frequency breathing motion as long as space-only POD is applied on signals previously low-pass filtered at 10 Hz. However, the superiority of SPOD is revealed by its inherent capacity to express the frequency range amenable to low-rank behavior. In addition to offering new insights into the low-frequency dynamics of TSBs, the present results also demonstrate the usefulness of calorimetric shear-stress sensors for the study of turbulent separating and reattaching flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the use of surrogate-based analysis and optimization (SBAO) methods to investigate the performance of pulsed jet actuators for active separation control in a wind tunnel. Two experimental setups are examined: pressure-induced separation on a one-sided diffuser and trailing-edge separation on a NACA 64A-015 airfoil. In both cases the modeling is done using Gaussian process regression (kriging), and the investigated active-flow-control parameters are the amplitude, frequency, and duty cycle of the actuators that are used to mitigate boundary-layer separation. In the diffuser test case, a parameter-space exploration is conducted to examine the effect of the three input parameters on the amount of reverse flow detected by an array of calorimetric shear-stress sensors. In the airfoil test case, an optimization strategy is followed to maximize an objective function constructed with the airfoil sectional lift coefficient and the mass flow consumption of the actuators. Both experiments consistently indicate that lowering the duty cycle of the pulsed-jet actuators below 0.5 may lead to efficiency gains in active separation control by limiting their mass flow consumption for equal performance, but with a concomitant supply pressure increase. Overall, the results presented herein demonstrate that SBAO methods could provide a potential for more efficient wind tunnel investigations involving multiparameter problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]