Seventh International Conference on Laser Anemometry - Advances and Applications

Abstract

Seventh International Conference on Laser Anemometry - Advances and Applications Karlsruhe, Germany 8 - 11 September 1997 The 1997 International Conference on Laser Anemometry - Advances and Applications took place at the Institute for Hydromechanics on the campus of the University of Karlsruhe. This was the seventh in a biennial series created under a collaborative agreement between the European Association for Laser Anemometry (EALA) and the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This year's event was organized by the German Association for Laser Anemometry (GALA) in collaboration with EALA, ASME, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMECHE) and the Physikalisch - Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Preceding conferences had been held in the UK in Manchester (1985), Strathclyde (1987), and Swansea (1989); in the USA in Cleveland (1991) and on Hilton Head Island (1995); and in The Netherlands in Veldhoven (1993). The conference was organized in 27 sessions, frequently running in parallel, which offered a total of 96 presentations. A hard-bound volume of the proceedings is available through GALA eV, Postfach 410350, 76203 Karlsruhe, Germany (ISBN 3 9805613 0 5). As in previous years, presentations concentrated on the development and application of laser-based instruments for measuring fluid velocities. Some 38 of the 96 total presentations focused primarily on particular experimental applications of laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). Among these were two interesting contributions which further develop the application of LDA to the measurement of sound fields in water, resulting in the so-called laser Doppler hydrophone. A further ten presentations concerned the development of novel LDA systems or novel optical arrangements. Representative of these were a direction-discriminating LDA system based on MOPA lasers and an intriguing set-up to measure the radial component in piping configurations with limited optical access. This latter scheme utilized a beam intersection angle of nearly 180 degrees. Finally, nine presentations addressed some aspect of LDA signal processing or data processing, three of which touched upon the ever contentious topic of power spectrum estimation from LDA data. The closely related subjects of particle image velocity (PIV) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) were well-represented by some 19 and four presentations, respectively. Among the applications were several of a biomedical nature, including investigations of the flow in models of the lung airways and the nasal cavity. Developmental work concerning PIV included such topics as post-processing filters, on-line digital high-speed cameras to 3D scanning PIV. One contribution also investigated the spring method for PTV. Phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) was the subject of three presentations. These included an investigation of the effects of particle accelerations, oscillations, and non-sphericities on PDA measurement accuracy. Of these effects, only non-sphericities were found to significantly influence results. A three-detector scheme was proposed to combat this problem. Rounding out the problem were two presentations on Doppler global velocimetry (DGV) and some 11 individual contributions on topics ranging from laser two-focus anemometry (L2F) to speckle strophometry. Among these was a novel proposal for an LAD-based system for measuring aerodynamic particle diameters that makes use of the variation in velocity decay with diameter for particles entering a diffuser. Upon conclusion of the programme, the 8th International Conference on Laser Anemometry - Advances and applications was announced for 1999 at the University of Rome `La Sapienza'. Further information is available through Professor A Cenedese, Department of Mechanics and Aeronautics, University of Rome `La Sapienza', Via Eudossiana 18, I-00184 Rome, Italy. It should also be mentioned that GALA's annual workshop on laser measuring techniques in fluid mechanics, which was not held this year due to the hosting of the International Conference on Laser Anemometry, will convene once again next year on 28 - 30 September 1998 at the University of Essen, with abstracts due by 3 April 1998. Further information can be obtained from Professor Dr W Merzkirchm, Lehrstuhl für Stromungslehre, Universität Essen, 45117 Essen, Germany. Tel: +49 201 2832911; fax: +49 201 1833945; e-mail: wmerzk@nike.flow.uni-essen.de. L H Benedict