Automatic Particle Tracking In A Three-Dimensional Flow Field

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Abstract
A technique is presented for automatic tracking of the three-dimensional motion of tracer particles in an incompressible fluid flow using high-speed photography and computerized processing. Particles in the fluid are illuminated so that they appear bright over a dark background. Two perpendicular views of the test section are recorded on each frame using a HYCAM camera and a mirror arrangement. The images on film are video digitized and suitably enhanced to allow automatic identification of the tracers even under less than optimal conditions. Corresponding pairs in the two views are matched to yield the spatial co-ordinates of the tracers, which are then tracked by an algorithm that uses the most recently computed velocity vector for a particle to predict its position in the following frame. The accuracy of spatial location obtained from orthogonal views compares favourably with stereoscopic techniques used by other workers, and tracking in three dimensions minimizes problems that may arise when following particles independently in each view of a stereo-scopic image.

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