Application of the PIV measurement technique for aerodynamic research in EC projects

Abstract

For the past few years particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been increasingly used for aerodynamic research and de-velopment. This is mainly due to the unique feature of the PIV technique, which allows the recording of a complete velocity field in a plane of the flow within a few microseconds. Thus, PIV provides information about unsteady flow fields, which is difficult to obtain with other ex-perimental techniques. The short acquisition time and fast availability of data reduce the operational time, and hence cost, in large scale test facilities. Technical progress made in the last years allowed the PIV teams of the European research establishments on aeronautics to develop reliable, modular PIV systems for use in industrial wind tunnels. Development, and application of PIV as well as information exchange about PIV with industrial end-users have been considerably supported by EC. This paper will summarize the state-of-the-art of PIV by describing the basic features of DLR's PIV system and will present some results of recent PIV applications within EC funded projects such as EUROPIV 1 and 2, PivNet, APIAN, WAVENC, EUROWAKE, C-Wake, EUROLIFT, and HELIFLOW. Most of these results have been obtained by joint teams of different EREA members, European aeronautical industry and wind tunnels.