PIV measurements of rotational flow in a porous medium : A masters thesis in fluid dynamics and experimental mechanics

Abstract: The purpose of this work is to test the feasibility of using particle image velocimetry(PIV) for measurements of flow through a porous medium, more specifically in this casea rotating bed reactor S3. The results from experiments preformed can then be usedto validate and improve computational fluid dynamics models. The report presentsdifferent possible combinations of solids and fluids for refractive index matchingand tests some velocity limits of the optical equipment used. PIV appears to be apromising method for measuring flow through a porous medium. The theoreticallimit due to motion blur is an angular velocity of around 3800 RPM, and the actualtested lower bound for this limit is 453 RPM.