Single-pixel resolution velocity/convection velocity field of a supersonic jet measured by particle/schlieren image velocimetry

A single-pixel ensemble correlation method was applied to the schlieren and shadowgraph image velocimetry (SIV) and a velocimetry method that can obtain the convection velocity distribution of high spatial resolution without an expensive pulsed laser system being achieved for a laboratory-scale supersonic jet flow. A cold axisymmetric supersonic jet was employed, and the basic characteristics of the convection velocity fields are measured by SIV as well as those of the velocity fields by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) in the single-pixel resolution. The Mach number of a supersonic jet was 2.0, and the Reynolds number based on the diameter of the nozzle exit was 1.0 × 10 6 . A pulsed light-emitting-diode light source was used for SIV as a less expensive light source. The single-pixel ensemble correlation method applied to PIV clearly visualizes the potential core and the shear layer development with the high spatial resolution. The axial velocity of SIV at the jet centerline is approximately 0.7–0.8 times of that of PIV which seems to relate to the convection velocity. The velocity calculated from the shadowgraph images agrees well with the convection velocity estimated from the Mach wave emission angle. The comparison between the scale of the visualized turbulent structure and the length scale of large eddies implied that the quantitative discussion of the SIV measurement requires careful consideration of the scale of the visualized turbulent structure on the SIV image. Graphic abstract