The role of particle image velocimetry in industrial R&D - the tricky balance between customers' wishes, cost and the limits of physics

Kurzfassung

Already from the point of view of making fluid flows "visible" and quantifiable the particle image velocimetry technique has made substantial impact on experimental fluid mechanics and associated engineering fields. After three decades of continuous and still ongoing development, the technique nowadays offers access to fully resolved velocity field data, both in space and time, and is supported by a thorough mathematical-theoretical background, which allows a characterization of its performance and uncertainties. Yet, the use of the technique - in particular to its full capacity - continues to play a secondary role in applied industrial research and is often side-lined with respect to conventional "established" point-wise measurement techniques. In many PIV applications the acquired PIV data is mainly used for the "validation" of numerical methods, leaving the full potential provided by the spatio-temporal resolved PIV data untapped. The presentation will introduce several examples of PIV applications in industrial R&D, mainly from the turbomachinery sector involving transonic compressors and high pressure combustion, and illustrates a variety of challenges and compromises faced in making PIV (and other optical measurement techniques) possible in rough operating environments.