Bubble PIV Using a Plenoptic Camera

  • Student: Dominic Hildebrandt

This research involves the study of air bubble behavior in water using a plenoptic camera. The plenoptic camera will allow the motion and structure of the bubble to be viewed three dimensionally by observing the distortion of light through the bubble. Additionally, particle seeding can be used to examine the flow of water around the bubbles. Potential applications of this bubble research include ultrasound therapy, ship drag reduction, and sonar. The following photograph shows a bubble cavity collapse near a wall, which is one such phenomenon that could be studied.  The goals of this project are to design an experimental setup, select bubble generation techniques, develop specialized software for applying the plenoptic camera to bubble imaging, validate the plenoptic camera’s effectiveness in bubble imaging, and gather experimental data from the images taken for analysis.

Last Updated: Jul 26, 2013