A multi-camera image acquisition system and its application for the investigation of flow related events

Abstract

A previously (at ISFV11) presented high-speed video stroboscope developed at the Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology of German Aerospace Center has been improved and extended to a high-resolution, multi-camera recording system. This system allows for the investigation of fast repetitive, e.g. periodic, phenomena and provides a real-time, slow-motion display of these events with simultaneous frame recording. Non-repetitive events can be imaged with the variable framing rate limited by the properties of the applied cameras. This system has been successfully used in various applications as the visualization of micro- and macroscopic flows, diagnostics of fast running machines as turbines and engines (fuel injection, combustion), marine propellers (cavitation), medicine (larynx diagnostics) and zoology (study of the insect fly). It has been also used for the investigation of the flap gap width during the Airbus A340-400 flight tests in the EU-Project “AWIATOR”. Especially for this project, a number of dedicated features have been implemented to the system.