This paper describes the principles of a novel 3D PIV system based on the illumination, recording and reconstruction of tracer particles within a 3D measurement volume The technique makes use of several simultaneous views of the illuminated particles and their 3D reconstruction as a light intensity distribution by means of optical tomography The technique is therefore referred to as tomographic particle image velocimetry (tomographic-PIV) The reconstruction is performed with the MART algorithm, yielding a 3D array of light intensity discretized over voxels The reconstructed tomogram pair is then analyzed by means of 3D cross-correlation with an iterative multigrid volume deformation technique, returning the three-component velocity vector distribution over the measurement volume The principles and details of the tomographic algorithm are discussed and a parametric study is carried out by means of a computer-simulated tomographic-PIV procedure The study focuses on the accuracy of the light intensity field reconstruction process The simulation also identifies the most important parameters governing the experimental method and the tomographic algorithm parameters, showing their effect on the reconstruction accuracy A computer simulated experiment of a 3D particle motion field describing a vortex ring demonstrates the capability and potential of the proposed system with four cameras The capability of the technique in real experimental conditions is assessed with the measurement of the turbulent flow in the near wake of a circular cylinder at Reynolds 2,700

Tomographic particle image velocimetry

Vortex breakdown: a review

A survey is given of the major developments in three-dimensional velocity field measurements using the tomographic particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The appearance of tomo-PIV dates back seven years from the present review (Elsinga et al 2005a 6th Int. Symp. PIV (Pasadena, CA)) and this approach has rapidly spread as a versatile, robust and accurate technique to investigate three-dimensional flows (Arroyo and Hinsch 2008 Topics in Applied Physics vol 112 ed A Schroder and C E Willert (Berlin: Springer) pp 127–54) and turbulence physics in particular. A considerable number of applications have been achieved over a wide range of flow problems, which requires the current status and capabilities of tomographic PIV to be reviewed. The fundamental aspects of the technique are discussed beginning from hardware considerations for volume illumination, imaging systems, their configurations and system calibration. The data processing aspects are of uppermost importance: image pre-processing, 3D object reconstruction and particle motion analysis are presented with their fundamental aspects along with the most advanced approaches. Reconstruction and cross-correlation algorithms, attaining higher measurement precision, spatial resolution or higher computational efficiency, are also discussed. The exploitation of 3D and time-resolved (4D) tomographic PIV data includes the evaluation of flow field pressure on the basis of the flow governing equation. The discussion also covers a-posteriori error analysis techniques. The most relevant applications of tomo-PIV in fluid mechanics are surveyed, covering experiments in air and water flows. In measurements in flow regimes from low-speed to supersonic, most emphasis is given to the complex 3D organization of turbulent coherent structures.

Tomographic PIV: principles and practice

Planar self-calibration methods have become standard for stereo PIV to correct misalignments between laser light sheet and calibration plane. Computing cross-correlation between images from camera 1 and 2 taken at the same time, non-zero disparity vectors indicate rotational and translational misalignments relative to the coordinate system defined by a calibration plate. This approach works well for thin light sheets but fails for extended volumes recorded in 3D-PTV or tomographic PIV experiments. Here it is primarily necessary to correct calibration errors leading to triangulation errors in 3D-PTV or in degraded tomographic volume reconstruction. Tomographic PIV requires calibration accuracies of a fraction of a pixel throughout the complete volume, which is difficult to achieve experimentally. A new volumetric self-calibration technique has been developed based on the computation of the 3D position of matching particles by triangulation as in 3D-PTV. The residual triangulation error (‘disparity’) is then used to correct the mapping functions for all cameras. A statistical clustering method suitable for dense particle images has been implemented to find correct disparity map peaks from true particle matches. Disparity maps from multiple recordings are summed for better statistics. This self-calibration scheme has been validated using several tomographic PIV experiments improving the vector quality significantly. The relevance for other 3D velocimetry methods is discussed.

Volume self-calibration for 3D particle image velocimetry

Effects of large computational time steps on the computed turbulence were investigated using a fully implicit method. In turbulent channel flow computations the largest computational time step in wall units which led to accurate prediction of turbulence statistics was determined. Turbulence fluctuations could not be sustained if the computational time step was near or larger than the Kolmogorov time scale.

Effects of the computational time step on numerical solutions for turbulent flow

3D scanning particle image velocimetry (SPIV) provides particle images in a large set of parallel light-sheet planes using a rapid scanning light-sheet which samples the flow in depth from which the three-dimensional flow field can be reconstructed in the scanned volume. Together with a digital high-speed video technique and a high-speed rotating drum scanner for 3D beam scanning, first 3D SPIV measurements were carried out in a motored model engine with a transparent cylinder and piston crown. Attention was focused on the generation of small-scale structures during compression strokes. Using a spatial cross-correlation of particle images in the overlapping sheets, the 3D flow field could be recovered from the sheet-wise tomographic recorded flow volume. This demonstrates the potential of 3D SPIV in engine flows since 3D information can be obtained from a single view and therefore the method can be applied in actual research engines already in use without any additional modification. The first results of the feasibility study have shown complex flow at the very end of compression which is characterized here by meandering monopolar and dipolar vortices within the main swirling flow which interact with the centre. It is suggested that the observed vortex splitting and shearing is an important contribution to the creation of turbulence.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-0233/8/12/011/pdf

3D scanning PIV applied to an air flow in a motored engine using digital high-speed video

Scanning-Particle-Image-Velocimetry Technique (SPIV), introduced by Brucker (1992) and Brucker and Althaus (1992), offers the quantitative investigation of three-dimensional vortical structures in unsteady flows On principle, this technique combines classical Particle-Image-Velocimetry (PIV) with volume scanning using a scanning light-sheet In our previous studies, single scans obtained from photographic frame series were evaluated to show the instantaneous vortical structure of the respective flow phenomena Here, continuous video recordings are processed to capture also the temporal information for the study of the set-up of 3D effects in the cylinder wake The flow is continuously sampled in depth by the scanning light-sheet and in each of the parallel planes frame-to-frame cross-correlation of the video images (DPIV) is applied to obtain the 2D velocity field Because the scanning frequency and repetition rate is high in comparison with the characteristic time-scale of the flow, the evaluation provides a complete time-record of the 3D flow during the starting process With use of the continuity concept as described by Robinson and Rockwell (1993), we obtained in addition the out-of-plane component of the velocity in spanwise direction This in view, the described technique enabled the reconstruction of the three-dimensional time-dependent velocity and vorticity field The visualization of the dynamical behaviour of these quantities as, eg by video, gave a good impression of the spanwise flow showing the “tornado-like” suction effect of the starting vortices

Digital-Particle-Image-Velocimetry (DPIV) in a scanning light-sheet: 3D starting flow around a short cylinder

A new optical sensor technique based on a sensor film with arrays of hair-like flexible micropillars on the surface is presented to measure the temporal and spatial wall shear stress field in boundary layer flows. The sensor principle uses the pillar tip deflection in the viscous sublayer as a direct measure of the wall shear stress. The pillar images are recorded simultaneously as a grid of small bright spots by high-speed imaging of the illuminated sensor film. Two different ways of illumination were tested, one of which uses the fact that the transparent pillars act as optical microfibres, which guide the light to the pillar tips. The other method uses pillar tips which were reflective coated. The tip displacement field of the pillars is measured by image processing with subpixel accuracy. With a typical displacement resolution on the order of 0.2 μm, the minimum resolvable wall friction value is τw≈20 mPa. With smaller pillar structures than those used in this study, one can expect even smaller resolution limits.

Feasability study of wall shear stress imaging using microstructured surfaces with flexible micropillars

The first observation of the breakdown of leading-edge vortices above a delta wing, made by Peckham and Atkinson (1957), initiated a series of investigations of this problem during the last three decades In spite of extensive theoretical and experimental research since, no generally accepted explanation for vortex breakdown has been found The continued interest in this phenomenon is demonstrated by several reviews (Hall 1972; Leibovich 1978; Escudier 1988) and two conferences on vortex breakdown in Aachen, Germany in 1985 and Baden, Switzerland in 1987 Since then, increases in computational power and new experimental techniques have made possible the simulation of unsteady, three-dimensional flows and the comparison of the simulations with experimental results Vortex breakdown is one such unsteady three-dimensional flow The major aim of this chapter is, therefore, to review these latest developments in vortex breakdown research

Breakdown of Slender Vortices

The objective of the present study is the detailed analysis of the unsteady vortex dynamics downstream of the human glottis during phonation at typical fundamental frequencies of the male voice of about 120 Hz. A hydraulic respiratory mock circuit has been built, including a factor of three up-scaled realistic dynamic model of the vocal folds. Time-resolving flow measurements were carried out downstream of the glottis by means of high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV). The function of the human glottis is reproduced by two counter-rotating cams, each of which is covered with a stretched silicone membrane. The three-dimensional (3-D) geometry of the cams is designed such that the rotation leads to a realistic time-varying motion and profile of the glottis and waveform of the glottal cycle. Using high-speed PIV, the velocity field is captured with high spatial and temporal resolution to investigate the unsteady vortex dynamics of the cyclic jet-like flow in the vocal tract. The results help us to understand the vorticity interaction within the pulsating jet and, consequently, the generated sound in a human voice. In addition, changing the 3-D contours of the cams enables us to investigate basic pathological differences of the glottis function and the resulting alterations of the velocity and vorticity field in the vocal tract. The results are presented for typical physiological flow conditions in the human glottis. The frequencies of periodic vortex structures generated downstream of the glottis are fivefold higher than the fundamental frequency of the vocal folds’ oscillation. The highest vorticity fluctuations have a phase shift of 35% relative to the opening of the glottis. Finally, the flow field in the vocal tract is identified to be highly three-dimensional.

Ch. Brücker

Papers

3D scanning PIV applied to an air flow in a motored engine using digital high-speed video

Digital-Particle-Image-Velocimetry (DPIV) in a scanning light-sheet: 3D starting flow around a short cylinder

Feasability study of wall shear stress imaging using microstructured surfaces with flexible micropillars

Breakdown of Slender Vortices

High-speed PIV measurements of the flow downstream of a dynamic mechanical model of the human vocal folds