Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an optical method of flow visualization used to measure instantaneous velocity fields. It works by seeding a fluid with tracer particles and illuminating a 2D slice of the flow with a pulsed laser sheet, usually from a double-pulsed Nd:YAG laser. A camera captures two rapid frames, and cross-correlation software calculates the velocity vectors of the particles between the pulses.
Make sure you wear your goggles, we're firing the PIV laser at 100 millijoules per pulse.
Also heard as
- Particle Image Velocimetry
Related terms
Double pulsing
A fault where a pulsed laser emits two pulses where it should emit one, from too much gain or bad switch timing.
YAG
Shorthand for yttrium aluminum garnet, and in practice for the Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm.
Rep rate
Clipped form of repetition rate: how many pulses per second a pulsed laser emits.