Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV): limitations to measurement accuracy

DPIV is the most commonly employed whole-field measurement technique to quantify velocity field over a two-dimensional region within a flow. With the advancements in laser and digital camera technology time-resolved DPIV systems are now capable of recording digital images at kHz rates, and consequently, providing high spatial and temporal resolution velocity field data, which can provide turbulence statistics for the refinement of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. It is essential, however, the measurement errors associated with time-resolved PIV are quantified before comparisons with CFD code predictions are attempted. This thesis has identified, assessed and suppressed the inherent measurement errors attributable to the random positioning of particle images in an interrogation area, through a combination of theoretical modelling and experimental verifications. [Continues.]