Application of continuous wavelet transform to the study of large-scale coherent structures

It is generally recognized that large-scale turbulent coherent structures play an important role in the transport of sediment and contaminants in rivers. They are also believed to be related to the origin and development of a variety of fluvial bed and plan forms. While intensive laboratory and field research has been devoted in recent years to the study of large-scale vertical coherent structures, no such efforts have yet been directed to the study of large-scale horizontal coherent structures. This paper is intended as a contribution to address the existing lack of information on the latter structures. Its objective is to report an application of continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to the detection and establishment of the length and time scales of the largest coherent structures existing in a shallow open channel flow (width to depth ratio equal to 25), focusing primarily on the horizontal structures. The analysis is based on measurements of instantaneous flow velocity previously carried out in a 21 m long, 1 m wide flume. These include 306 single point velocity measurements collected throughout the flow field at a constant distance from the bed surface, the duration of each measurement being 120 s; and 20 min long measurements carried out at selected locations. The velocity was measured with the aid of a 2D Micro Acoustic Doppler Velocity meter. Large-scale horizontal coherent structures could be identified in all of the velocity records, and appeared as quasi-cyclic, sustained features in the flow. The intervals of time where such structures could not be detected were invariably short in comparison to the measurement time. CWT was found to be particularly well suited to determine the average time and length scales of the structures, two quantities of special significance in river morphodynamics. The average time scale of the large-scale horizontal structures for the investigated flow was found to be equal to 22.3 s, which implies a length scale of five times the flow width. Individual horizontal coherent structures with characteristic times approximately twice larger than the value of average time scale could be identified in the flow. However, these were infrequent occurrences in the flow.