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Velocity refinement of PIV using global optical flow

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Abstract

In this study, we propose a method to enhance the particle image velocimetry (PIV) velocity resolution using global optical flow along with image warping. A global optical flow formula proposed by Brox et al. (High accuracy optical flow estimation based on a theory for warping. In: Proceedings of the 8th European conference on computer vision, vol 4, pp 25–36, 2004) is adopted to compensate the intensity changes of PIV image pairs, which depend on the set-up and synchronization of a laser and a camera. The proposed method is quantitatively evaluated and validated using synthetic particle image pairs generated for Rankine vortices and reference DNS-based velocity data. The proposed method outperforms the conventional PIV method in capturing small scale vortex and turbulent structures due to its enhanced spatial resolution. In addition, the proposed method shows good performance in large displacement fields and varying image intensity whereas optical flow is applicable to small displacement and susceptible to image intensity variation in general. Finally, the proposed method is applied to real PIV particle images of a multiple rectangular jet flow. The results show that the proposed method successfully works out high-resolution fluid mechanical structure and quantities while preserving the conventional PIV results.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Nuclear R&D Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by MSIP; Ministry of Science ICT & Future Planning (No. NRF-2019M2A8A1000630).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Engineering, Seoul National University, 559 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, South Korea

    Jee Hyun Seong, Min Seop Song & Eung Soo Kim

  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Jee Hyun Seong

  3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Daniel Nunez & Annalisa Manera

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  1. Jee Hyun Seong
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  2. Min Seop Song
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  3. Daniel Nunez
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  5. Eung Soo Kim
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Correspondence to Eung Soo Kim.

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Seong, J.H., Song, M.S., Nunez, D. et al. Velocity refinement of PIV using global optical flow. Exp Fluids 60, 174 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-019-2820-4

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