Measurement Errors and Uncertainty Quantification of a Two-Dimensional-Particle Image Velocimetry Experimental Setup for Jet Flow Characterization

Abstract

The study of the flow interaction and the heat transfer between air jets and a surface is of paramount importance in industrial processes that apply air jet impingement. To ensure a good performance of the process, high heat transfer rates and uniformization of the flow over the target plate are required. In this work, a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was implemented for the measurement of the flow velocity fields. However, as any real experiment, the values recorded by the PIV method are subjected to several errors that compromise the reliability and accuracy of the measurements. These errors can have different sources, from the installation and alignment to the particles seeding and calibration procedure. To maximize the accuracy of the experimental results, this paper focuses on the identification of measurement errors and uncertainty quantification of an experimental setup purposely built for the analysis of the interaction between air jets and a target surface. This paper presents an analysis of the system, and the source of errors are identified, quantified, and, when possible, corrected. The particle seeding is characterized, and its efficiency for the flow tracking is analyzed. The setup was tested to fully characterize the flow field in terms of mean velocity profile and turbulence intensity over a wide range of Reynolds numbers and temperature. Several velocity fields are then measured until convergence of the flow quantities is reached. The combination of these measurements with high spatial resolution and low measurement errors allows us to obtain accurate and precise measurements.