Applications of Defocusing DPIV to Bubbly Flow Measurement

Defocusing digital particle image velocimetry (DDPIV) was used to investigate a bubbly flow in the wake of a hydrofoil. DDPIV is a three component volumetric velocimetry technique that operates at full video rate. Complex, three-dimensional, and time-dependent flows can be measured. To measure the bubble sizes, an extension to DDPIV was made to infer bubble sizes from their intensities. Both bubble size distributions and bubble velocity fields were simultaneously measured. Results indicate that DDPIV can reliably measure bubble sizes in the range of 100 microns, as well as resolving their aggregate motion.