Development of coherent motion in the wake of a model wind turbine

The analysis shows the development from a near wake with strong periodic coherent structures to the region where turbulent motions dominate and where a significant inertial subrange in the spectrum is identified. This transition is shown to be initiated by the mutual induction between the vortices which causes them to leapfrog within 1.75 diameters downstream of the rotor and merge into a single structure by 3 diameters.