Influence of individual variations of particle image intensities on high-resolution PIV

Individual variations of intensity of tracer particles, e.g., due to out-of-plane displacements between exposures, strongly limit the achievable accuracy of correlation-based PIV processing. The RMS error originated by this effect correlates with the spatial resolution that can be achieved with the processing algorithm making especially high-resolution algorithms like iterative image deformation affected by this error. Both aspects are shown, the gain of resolution by iterative image deformation and the loss of accuracy due to individual variations of particle intensities.