Methodology for the Elimination of Reflection and System Vibration Effects in Particle Image Velocimetry Data Processing

A methodology to eliminate model reflection and system vibration effects from post processed particle image velocimetry data is presented. Reflection and vibration lead to loss of data, and biased velocity calculations in PIV processing. A series of algorithms were developed to alleviate these problems. Reflections emanating from the model surface caused by the laser light sheet are removed from the PIV images by subtracting an image in which only the reflections are visible from all of the images within a data acquisition set. The result is a set of PIV images where only the seeded particles are apparent. Fiduciary marks painted on the surface of the test model were used as reference points in the images. By locating the centroids of these marks it was possible to shift all of the images to a common reference frame. This image alignment procedure as well as the subtraction of model reflection are performed in a first algorithm. Once the images have been shifted, they are compared with a background image that was recorded under no flow conditions. The second and third algorithms find the coordinates of fiduciary marks in the acquisition set images and the background image and calculate the displacement between these images. The final algorithm shifts all of the images so that fiduciary mark centroids lie in the same location as the background image centroids. This methodology effectively eliminated the effects of vibration so that unbiased data could be used for PIV processing. The PIV data used for this work was generated at the NASA Langley Research Center Quiet Flow Facility. The experiment entailed flow visualization near the flap side edge region of an airfoil model. Commercial PIV software was used for data acquisition and processing. In this paper, the experiment and the PIV acquisition of the data are described. The methodology used to develop the algorithms for reflection and system vibration removal is stated, and the implementation, testing and validation of these algorithms are presented.