Laser Imagery Technique for Measuring Dispersed Droplets in Water

Abstract

A nonintrusive method, based on the planar laser imagery technique, was developed to capture images of droplets dispersed in turbulent flow without disturbing the flow field. The methodology and technique of capturing the images, processing, recognition, and measurement were presented. Experimental findings show that this is a workable method in laboratory investigations of droplet dispersion. Results of droplet size distribution obtained and their comparison with those in the literature indicated that the proposed nonintrusive method was successful at capturing fast-moving droplets in turbulent flow without disturbing the flow field. The image processing methodology adopted to recognize and measure the droplets was found to be efficient and effective. The results of the normalized droplet size distribution (number frequency) depicts clearly discernible self-similarity characteristics.