PIV in industrial applications

Abstract

In the past couple of decades PIV has continuously broadening its range of application in many different fields of industrial interest, from micro to macro scales, from low to high Reynolds number flows and even up to high Mach numbers. Today, more frequently PIV is used in combination with other (optical) field measurement techniques in order to acquire further significant measures (density, concentration, boundary layer transition, sound sources, pressure, temperature etc.) and related features of the flow simultaneously, specifically in aerodynamics, space craft research, combustion and process engineering. Thus, corresponding technical adaptations of the applied PIV system are necessary to suit the needs of these different fields. A very important field of PIV applications remains that of industrial aerodynamic research: PIV systems for the investigation of air flows in wind tunnels must be capable of recording low speed (e.g. U∞ < 40 m/s) as well as high speed flows with U∞ > 500 m/s (e.g. supersonic flows with shocks) in large fields and at many planes in short succession. Flow fields above solid, moving, or deforming models in aerodynamics are usually associated with complex and unsteady three-dimensional flow structures of different length and time scales, which must be properly resolved by the respective PIV or MP-STB technique. In this paper a short overview of the technical requirements of PIV measurements in large flow facilities is provided and an example of a PIV and a MP-STB application to research in industrial aerodynamics are described.