Feasibility of particle image velocimetry for low-speed unconventional vapor flows

• Published in: Experimental thermal and fluid science 2019-04, Vol.102, p.589-594
• Main Authors: Head, A.J., Novara, M., Gallo, M., Schrijer, F., Colonna, P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptable noise levels; Average velocity; Convection; Feasibility studies; Fields (mathematics); Flow-density-speed relationships; Fluid dynamics; Free convection; Low speed; Low speed ro­tat­ing or­ganic va­por flow; Outliers (statistics); Particle image velocimetry; Rotating disks; Rotation; Seed­ing tech­nique; Signal to noise ratio; Siloxane fluids; Siloxanes; Stokes number; Superposition (mathematics); Titanium dioxide; Vapors; Velocity distribution; Velocity measurement
• ISSN: 0894-1777; 1879-2286
• DOI: 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2018.10.028

•The PIV technique was used to study a low-speed rotating vapor flow of siloxane D4.•The adopted seeding method resulted in a satisfactory particle distribution.•The ratio of particle peak intensity to the image noise level is acceptable.•High flow speeds warrant corrections for apparent shifts/blurring of particle images. This work assesses the feasibility of the planar PIV technique to study the characteristics of a siloxane vapor D4. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) seeding particles were used to track the motion around a rotating disk in a low speed flow. Vector fields of natural convection (NC) and a superposition of NC and rotating flow were selected as exemplary cases. The particles were capable of tracing the flow since the calculated Stokes number St is 6.5×10-5. The quality of the experimental data is assessed by means of particle seeding density and particle image Signal to Noise ratio (S/N). The final results are deemed acceptable for an accurate assessment of the flow field. Rejected outliers are below 2.3% and the relative uncertainties corresponding to the average velocity fields are below 1%.