Development and Evaluation of an Improved Correlation Based PTV Method

An improved correlation based Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) algorithm was proposed in the present paper. The path tracking of the tracer particles was achieved through a correlation operation of the small interrogation window around the studied tracer particles at two-time steps. The central positions of the tracer particles were determined by the correlation operation of the tracer particle image with a Gaussian particle mask in order to improve the accuracy to identify the central positions of particles up to sub-pixel level. The performance of the present improved correlation based Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) algorithm was evaluated by using both synthetic VSJ standard PIV images and actual PIV images of a self-induced sloshing. Compared with other conventional PTV methods, the present improved correlation based PTV algorithm was found to be able to provide better solution and more robust for suppression the effect of background noise in the PIV images.