A Comparison of 2D and 3D PIV Measurements in an Oblique Jet

A stereo PIV (SPIV) acquisition and analysis system was developed to measure three velocity components in planar flow fields. The analysis software is based on a third order mapping function method. The system was calibrated by imaging a square grid in three measurement planes with two Kodak Megaplus cameras oriented at 30° to the bisector between them. The camera images were dewarped into real coordinates by employing a set of transform matrices computed for each calibration plane. Bias and rms errors were determined by comparing displacements measured directly with displacements estimated from the dewarping and recombination algorithm. The bias errors in the directions parallel with the measurement plane were negligible while the bias in the z direction was about 0.6 pixel. The rms errors, 0.2-0.3 pixels, were largest in the z direction. These errors were thought to result from limitations in the calibration method. The SPIV system was tested in a two-dimensional oblique jet with Reynolds number of 1800. The three dimensional results were taken in a vertical (x, y) plane parallel with the jet span. The SPIV results were compared with LDV data and two-dimensional PIV data obtained in a vertical (y, z) plane of the same jet. The SPIV measurements yielded accurate values for the in-plane mean and rms velocity components. The measured out-of-plane mean component was underestimated due to the bias error mentioned above. The rms component was accurate in part of the field but overestimated in another part due to local variations in rms error. It is expected that in the future, the out-of-plane errors can be minimized by improving the calibration and transformation procedures.