Turbulence measurements in dam-break flows

A better comprehension of the dam-break flow necessarily implies the knowledge of its velocity field. Recently some studies have successfully applied image techniques to the determination of the velocity field in dam-break flows. The next step should then be the study of the turbulence characteristics of such flow. Turbulent measurements require enough data to perform meaningful statistics. In dam-break flows however, due to its severe transient character, those measurements are difficult to obtain, since they imposes the need of fast acquisition measurement techniques. With the recent developments in imaging techniques it is now possible to have cameras with acquisition frequencies up to several kHz. Such tools, combined with established algorithms like Particle Image Velocimetry allow the study of the turbulent character of the dam-break flow. So, this paper is devoted to the measurement of turbulent quantities in a dam-break flow using Time-Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry. In particular, the concept of ensemble average is used for the statistical analysis of the dam-break flow.