A new publication: Particle tracking velocimetry in liquid gallium flow around a cylindrical obstacle
A paper “Particle tracking velocimetry in liquid gallium flow around a cylindrical obstacle” by the researchers of the Institute of Numerical Modelling (INM) – Mihails Birjukovs, Peteris Zvejnieks, and Andris Jakovics – was published in the journal “Experiments in Fluids” on June 1, 2022 by researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf Tobias Lappan, Martin Sarma, Sascha Heitkam, Sven Eckert and by researchers from Paul Scherrer Institute Pavel Trtik and David Mannes.
This publication shows the measurement of particle velocity in liquid metal flowing around a cylindrical obstacle using algorithms previously developed by INM researchers to determine particle trajectories.
The publication presents an image-processing methodology designed to detect particles in neutron radiographic images with high noise and low particle contrast, as well as the use of the MHT-X tracking algorithm to reconstruct particle trajectories.
Initial results show that the developed methods ensure consistent detection of particles and the recovery of long, representative, and plausible particle trajectories. This is achieved, among other means, by using particle image velocimetry data as additional information to predict particle motion. However, the need to introduce a better approach to extrapolation of particle position important to further increase tracking accuracy.
The article provides a number of recommendations on how to obtain better results with the existing tools. Currently, the greatest difficulty is the acquisition of data and the current development phase of neutron radiography technologies for liquid metals.
The study is a part of the ERAF project “Development of numerical modelling approaches to study complex multiphysical interactions in electromagnetic liquid metal technologies” (No. 1.1.1.1/18/A/108).
