Simultaneous Imaging Techniques for Temperature and Velocity Fields in Thermal Fluid Flows

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Fujisawa, N. | Funatani, S. | Watanabe, Y.

Affiliations: Visualization Research Center, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan. E-mail: fujisawa@eng.niigata-u.ac.jp

Abstract: In this paper, non-intrusive imaging techniques for simultaneously measuring temperature and velocity fields of thermal liquid flows are described. The experimental methods for temperature imaging considered here are the thermo-sensitive liquid crystal tracers and the laser-induced fluorescence, which are combined with particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure simultaneously the corresponding 2D and 3D velocity fields. The features of these experimental methods and characteristics are examined, covering the measurable temperature range, uncertainty of measurement, time response and so on. The successful examples of simultaneous measurement of temperature and velocity fields are described for turbulent Rayleigh-Bérnard convection of a horizontal fluid layer and turbulent buoyant plume issuing from a circular nozzle, and their physical mechanisms of transport phenomena are explained.

Keywords: Measurement, Visualization, Temperature, Velocity, Liquid crystal, LIF, PIV

Journal: Journal of Visualization, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 247-255, 2008