  Using the embedded gradient vector field method (see P. Birtea, D. Comanescu, Hessian operators on constraint manifolds, J. Nonlinear Science 25, 2015), we present a general formula for the Laplace-Beltrami operator defined on a constraint manifold, written in the ambient coordinates. Regarding the orthogonal group as a constraint submanifold of the Euclidean space of $n\times n$ matrices, we give an explicit formula for the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the orthogonal group using the ambient Euclidean coordinates. We apply this new formula for some relevant functions. 
Laplace-Beltrami operator on the orthogonal group in Cartesian   coordinates