Note: Device for obtaining volumetric, three-component velocity fields inside cylindrical cavities

Rev Sci Instrum. 2015 Nov;86(11):116101. doi: 10.1063/1.4934975.

Abstract

We describe a device designed and built to obtain the three-component, steady state velocity field in the whole volume occupied by a fluid in motion contained in a cavity with cylindrical walls. The prototype comprises a two-camera stereoscopic particle image velocimetry system mounted on a platform that rotates around the volume under analysis and a slip ring arrangement that transmits data from the rotating sensors to the data storage elements. Sample observations are presented for natural convection in a cylindrical container but other flows can be analyzed.