ARTICLE:

• A NEW PIV TECHNIQUE FOR VERY LARGE HEAT-INDUCED FLOW-FIELDS  download article

M. L. Riethmuller
von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, 72 Chaussee de Waterloo, B-1640 Rhode Saint Genese, Belgique

P. Planquart
von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Rhode Saint Genèse, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Particle Image Velocimetry is often applied in the study of heat-induced flows because it is a non-intrusive technique that is capable of measuring very low velocities. It is therefore very well suited to the study of natural convection. The current limitation of this technique for this type of applications is the maximum size of the flow-field to be investigated which is of the order of 30 cm × 30 cm. In the present work, a special technique of PIV has been developed to overcome these limitations: A pattern recognition technique has been applied to images of seeded flow in fields of view with area larger than one square metre to obtain instantaneous velocity maps, using adapted PIV algorithms. The principles of the technique are first explained, feasibility tests are described and finally, the validation of the technique is demonstrated in a very low speed wind tunnel. To sum up, this paper proposes a measurement technique that can be applied to the experimental investigation of natural convection in large industrial buildings with flow fields of more than a meter.

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