An advanced off-axis holographic particle image velocimetry (HPIV) system

Holographic PIV (HPIV) is the most promising candidate for the next generation full-field velocimetry that can measure high spatial resolution instantaneous three-dimensional (3D) velocity fields. To explore the maximum performance capabilities of HPIV including spatial resolution, off-axis holography based HPIV has become a major direction of development. A fully automated off-axis HPIV system based on an injection-seeded dual-pulsed YAG laser and 3D data processing software has been implemented in the laser flow diagnostics lab (LFD). In our system, 90-degree particle scattering, dual reference beams, in situ reconstruction/data processing, and 3D velocity extraction based on a fast “concise cross correlation” (CCC) algorithm are utilized. The off-axis HPIV system is tested for an acoustically excited air jet and the wake of a surface-mounted tab in a water channel flow, giving instantaneous 3D velocity fields for both flows. Experimental data of instantaneously measured 3D flow structures using this technique show great promise.