The flow laboratory at the Bioenergy research group has a measuring system for the two-dimensional and three-dimensional measurement of flows in gases and liquids. Fine droplets or particles are added to the flow. These tracers are illuminated in a measuring plane at two very short consecutive time intervals using a strong laser light source (laser pulse 140 MJ in 8 ns). The tracers are recorded with one or two high-speed cameras, whereby the interval between two images can be selected from 150 nanoseconds or more. By knowing the location and time, the direction and velocity of the tracers can be determined exactly. The flow can be recorded in two dimensions with one camera, while the use of two cameras from different directions enables a three-dimensional measurement. By measuring the local particle concentration, mixing processes can also be described that play a decisive role in combustion and process engineering methods.
The test facilities are used to optimize the flow properties in technical processes, such as furnaces, electrostatic separators or dishwashers. Rapid thermal prototyping with 3D printers is used for producing complex three-dimensional models that are joined with aluminum and perspex. The models depict real-life systems at a scale of around 1:1 to 1:50, depending on their application. Tests on the model are used for direct optimization and for validating numerical flow calculations via computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
The flow laboratory is used as part of research and development projects and is also available for service contracts.
