Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) Measurements in Plunging Jets

This paper presents the research performed to define the current abilities and limits of PIV in measuring air concentration and velocity in spillway plunging jets. The research concluded that PIV measurement methods can successfully measure velocity and air concentration in a stilling basin environment. It was shown that laser-light sheet intensity, special seeding such as florescence and camera filters, and size discrimination techniques can be used to separate images of fluid marking particles and bubbles. It was shown that PIV can efficiently provide a detailed measurement of average velocity for a stilling basin flow field. It was also shown that PIV can measure turbulence and vortex structures.