Simultaneous Time-Resolved Gas and Particle Flow Measurements in a Multiphase Blast Using Particle Imaging Velocimetry and Novel Phase Separation Techniques

An experimental method is proposed to enable time-resolved measurements of both gas and particle velocities in explosions containing particles for munitions research. The approach involves novel processing methods for two-dimensional images that allow discrimination of the image content based on particle size. This allows an image containing a poly-dispersed distribution of particles to be decomposed into component images corresponding to the gas and solid phases from small and large particles, respectively. When particle- imaging velocimetry is applied to the component images, it should be possible to obtain separate simultaneous velocity vector fields, one of the gas phase from the smallest particles, which follow the flow, and one of the dispersed phase from the larger particles. Simultaneous gas and particle velocity fields will help to reveal important particle reaction kinetics that are needed for the verification and validation of computer models.