Network theory is used to formulate and characterize the web of interactions among vortical elements in wake flows. The nodes of these networks correspond to vortical elements in the flow field and the connections among them are weighted by the induced velocity. In particular, community detection is used to distill the overall interaction-based physics of the high-dimensional flow field into the vortical community centroids. ROM are formulated to predict the lift and drag in wake flows.

Network community detection is used to extract connector (high inter-community) and peripheral (low inter-community) structures that resemble shear-layer and vortex-core type structures, respectively, in 2- and 3-D isotropic turbulence. The effect of perturbing such structures to enhance local turbulence mixing is also explored.

The vortex dynamics in the wake of NACA airfoils are analyzed to understand the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics at low Reynolds number flows. Various canonical wake regimes are revealed at higher angles of attack and with the addition of Gurney flap, a passive flow modification device, at the trailing edge.