3D flow visualization and tomographic particle image velocimetry for vortex breakdown over a non-slender delta wing

Volumetric measurement for the leading-edge vortex (LEV) breakdown of a delta wing has been conducted by three-dimensional (3D) flow visualization and tomographic particle image velocimetry (TPIV). The 3D flow visualization is employed to show the vortex structures, which was recorded by four cameras with high resolution. 3D dye streaklines of the visualization are reconstructed using a similar way of particle reconstruction in TPIV. Tomographic PIV is carried out at the same time using same cameras with the dye visualization. Q criterion is employed to identify the LEV. Results of tomographic PIV agree well with the reconstructed 3D dye streaklines, which proves the validity of the measurements. The time-averaged flow field based on TPIV is shown and described by sections of velocity and streamwise vorticity. Combining the two measurement methods sheds light on the complex structures of both bubble type and spiral type of breakdown. The breakdown position is recognized by investigating both the streaklines and TPIV velocity fields. Proper orthogonal decomposition is applied to extract a pair of conjugated helical instability modes from TPIV data. Therefore, the dominant frequency of the instability modes is obtained from the corresponding POD coefficients of the modes based on wavelet transform analysis.