Applicability of the PIV system for velocity field measurement inside the ultrasonic flowmeter

Ultrasonic (US) flow meters are devices for a fluid flow measurement using the ultrasonic principle. Current research project dealing with developing the ultrasonic flowmeter with an innovative channel shape. Previously the work was aimed to the topology optimization using the CFD methods. The final prototype has to be analyzed experimentally to verify the velocity profiles in the US measurement section. The obtained velocity profiles in this region are necessary as the input for the US sensor data evaluation. A particle image velocimetry (PIV) was selected as a potentially suitable technique for the velocity profiles measurement. This paper presents the development and initial testing of a new experimental setup including the experimental track and PIV system. Several modifications were realized during the preparation of the experimental setup. Finally, measurements were performed with a simplified model and the results were evaluated in the form of velocity profiles in the area of interest. The most important results are the knowledge about the requirements on the model preparation. The future work will be aimed to the prototype of the ultrasonic flowmeter