The role of turbulent inflow on the development of a round jet in cross-flow.

•Turbulent inflow reduces the size of the lee-side wake region as well as complex 3D motions.•The jet centerline trajectory and development is independent of the inflow turbulence.•Turbulent inflow increases the expansion of the jet indicating an increase in entrainment.•Decomposition of the flow field identifies the most significant contributions to turbulent kinetic energy in the jet. This allows for reconstruction of the jet excluding the highest order features associated with the turbulence.•The presence of turbulent inflow allows for reconstruction using far less modes. Thus, a simplified model can describe the majority of relevant features for turbulent inflow cases.•Transport analysis identified a decrease in entrained momentum and energy on the lee-side while increasing on the leading edge in the presence of turbulence.