Study of the phenomena affecting the accuracy of a video- based particle tracking velocimetry technique

Abstract

The development of a video-based Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) technique has focused on the problem of the accuracy of this method. The PTV-method can be decomposed into three parts: the recording of the experiment, the image processing and the evaluation of the velocities. The accuracy of each stage has been studied. Inaccuracies due to resolution, length scale, light intensity and distortion of the x and y direction are analysed. One of the main factors influencing the accuracy is the selection of the time difference between frames. During the evaluation of velocities, incorrect identifications of particles may occur. The relation between the time-step of the frames and the percentage of incorrect identifications has been shown. The percentage of false identifications increases with the size of the time-step. The resolution accuracy is however improved when the time-step is increased. An adequate selection of the time-step has to be made to obtain a high resolution accuracy and a limited number of incorrect identifications.