Experimental investigation of the formation of acoustic streaming in a rectangular enclosure using a synchronized PIV technique

The formation process of acoustic streaming generated in an air-filled rigid-walled square channel subjected to acoustic standing waves of different frequencies and intensities is investigated experimentally. The walls of the resonator are maintained at isothermal boundary condition. The synchronized particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique has been used to measure the streaming velocity fields. The results show that the formation of classical streaming patterns depends on the frequency and vibrational displacement of the acoustic driver. It is found that to generate the classical streaming flow patterns, the streaming Reynolds number (Re-s1 = u(max)(2)/nu omega) should be greater than 7.