|
Interferometric reconstruction of a flow field usually consists of three steps. The first is to record interferograms, the second is to extract phase information from interferograms and the final is for numerical inversion of the phase data. In interferometric flow recording, test section enclosures and opaque models are frequently present, blocking a portion of the probing rays or restricting the view angle of the field to produce a partial data set especially for interferometric tomography. It also involves very harsh environments with external vibrations and disturbances of the ambient air. The ill-posed problem is susceptible to experimental noise and can produce serious distortions in reconstruction. Interferometric reconstruction of flow fields thus needs accurate phase information extraction. The major problem encountered in interferometry is that it is extremely sensitive to external disturbances including the vibration of the optical setup. This is true especially for aerodynamic wind tunnel testing. For successful application of interferometry to experimental fluid mechancis and heat/mass transfer, efficient mechanisms for accurate flow-field recording and information extraction are thus very necessary. In interferometric recording, use of the phase stepping techniques is desirable whenever possible, since they provide the most accuracy. However, they are not applicable under disturbing conditions; that is, under harsh environments. In an effort to provide accurate interferometric data, we device interferogram recording and reduction techniques. They are based on a phase-stepping method: however, applicable to harsh environments including wind tunnel testing. Here we present the governing concepts, investigation results, and application demonstration of our approaches for practical flow measurements. The developed approaches are tested through phoase extraction and 3D reconstruction of an experimental flow field, which is designed for future wind tunnel testing. The test conditions are very harsh, involving building vibrations and ambient air disturbances especially during the interferometric data acquisition in the phase stepping process. The results of the thermocouple readings agree fairly well with those from the experiment when compared. The acceptable error in the entire interferometric reconstruction process is believed to be mainly due to the ill-posed nature of the tomographic reconstruction but not from the phase extraction of the employed phase-stepping technique.
|
