Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a recent technique of flow measurement labeled as a non-intrusive methodology. The system developed in this paper used principles similar to conventional systems including some exclusive characteristics as the optical method of image acquisition and the calibration process of the coordinate system. The measurement system, resulted from these characteristics, uses a single conventional digital video camera to obtain three-dimensional data in low turbulence flow, which provided significant economy in the system implantation. A specific software was developed and the results consist of fields of three-dimensional velocities obtained from the digital video file. The application was destined to the measurement of velocities on the flow surface in a tank of oscillating grids in order to correlate the surface turbulence with the rearation capacity of the bodies of water.
PIV; particle image velocimetry; turbulence; optical measurement methods; rearation
