Large-scale structures in a plane turbulent mixing layer are studied through the use of the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). Extensive experimental measurements are obtained in a turbulent plane mixing layer by means of two cross-wire rakes aligned normal to the direction of the mean shear and perpendicular to the mean flow direction. The measurements are acquired well into the asymptotic region. From the measured velocities the two-point spectral tensor is calculated as a function of separation in the cross-stream direction and spanwise and streamwise wavenumbers. The continuity equation is then used for the calculation of the non-measured components of the tensor. The POD is applied using the cross-spectral tensor as its kernel. This decomposition yields an optimal basis set in the mean square sense. The energy contained in the POD modes converges rapidly with the first mode being dominant (49% of the turbulent kinetic energy). Examination of these modes shows that the first mode contains evidence of both known flow organizations in the mixing layer, i.e. quasi-two-dimensional spanwise structures and streamwise aligned vortices. Using the shot-noise theory the dominant mode of the POD is transformed back into physical space. This structure is also indicative of the known flow organizations.

Complementary low-dimensional techniques are modified to estimate the most energetic turbulent features of a Mach 0.85 axisymmetric jet in the flow's near-field regions via spectral linear stochastic estimation. This model estimate is three-dimensional, comprises all three components of the velocity field and is time resolved. The technique employs the pressure field as the unconditional input, measured within the hydrodynamic periphery of the jet flow where signatures (pressure) are known to comprise a reasonable footprint of the turbulent large-scale structure. Spectral estimation coefficients are derived from the joint second-order statistics between coefficients that are representative of the low-order pressure field (Fourier-azimuthal decomposition) and of the low-order velocity field (proper orthogonal decomposition). A bursting-like event is observed in the low-dimensional estimate and is similar to what was found in the low-speed jet studies of others. A number of low-dimensional estimates are created using different velocity–pressure mode combinations from which predictions of the far-field acoustics are invoked using Lighthill's analogy. The overall sound pressure level (OASPL) directivity is determined from the far-field prediction, which comprises qualitatively similar trends when compared to direct measurements at r/D=75. Retarded time topologies of the predicted field at 90° and 30° are also shown to manifest, respectively, high- and low-frequency wave-like motions when using a combination of only the low-order velocity modes (m=0, 1, 2). This work thus constitutes a first step in developing low-dimensional and dynamical system models from hydrodynamic pressure signatures for estimating and predicting the behaviour of the energy-containing events that govern many of the physical constituents of turbulent flows.