Toward a unified interpretation of the “proper”/“smooth” orthogonal decompositions and “state variable”/“dynamic mode” decompositions with application to fluid dynamics

A common interpretation is presented for four powerful modal decomposition techniques: “proper orthogonal decomposition,” “smooth orthogonal decomposition,” “state-variable decomposition,” and “dynamic mode decomposition.” It is shown that, in certain cases, each technique can be interpreted as an optimization problem and similarities between methods are highlighted. By interpreting each technique as an optimization problem, significant insight is gained toward the physical properties of the identified modes. This insight is strengthened by being consistent with cross-multiple decomposition techniques. To illustrate this, an inter-method comparison of synthetic hypersonic boundary layer stability data is presented.