An improved, free surface, topographic technique

Current techniques of water wave visualization such as shadowgraphy and stereo photography are widely used but are deficient in many aspects. Refraction based visualization observes the bending of light as it traverses across a liquid-air interface. This work describes the continued development of techniques to measure the surface height of a liquid free surface. The method, Reference Image Topography, utilizes refraction of light at the free surface as a function of the local angle of that surface. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) software is used to evaluate apparent dislocations of the target image viewed through the free surface, which are approximately proportional to the surface angle. High-resolution images are presented of the dynamic surface topography for a point source and the shallow water flow around a vertical cylinder.     

Simultaneous Measurement of Droplet Size and Three-Components of Velocity in Spray

The combination of the optical diagnostics and image processing technique has produced various methods of practical measurement in engineering. The measurement of size and velocity of droplets in fuel spray is one typical example. In general, the spray is a complicated and three-dimensional two-phase flow; therefore multi-dimensional field measurement of the spray field is indispensable. In the present paper, a technique of simultaneous measurement of droplet size and three-components of velocity is proposed and applied to spray issuing from the swirl nozzle as a practical application. The focused image of glare points is captured by a stereoscopic arrangement, and droplet size and the three-components of velocity are evaluated from the doublet image. Fundamental optical arrangements to capture the image of the glare points with a stereo view are established, and the feasibility and the accuracy of the technique are confirmed. © 2004 The Optical Society of Japan     

Radical graft polymerization onto composite particles of polydimethylsiloxane and polybutadiene

Submicron-size composite polymer particles consisting of polydimethylsiloxane/core and polybutadiene/shell were synthesized by seeded emulsion polymerization. The morphologies of composite particles were affected by polybutadiene ratio in the composite particles. Highly grafted polymer by poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) could be prepared by using the composite particles containing polybutadiene with polymerizable group. The morphologies of the grafted polymer were influenced by the morphologies of composite particles and the kinds of grafting initiators. It was found that surface gloss and lubricity of the graft polymers were influenced by morphologies of composite particles.     

Characterization of flower-inducing compound in Lemna paucicostata exposed to drought stress

A flower-inducing compound, LDS1, was isolated from a free-floating aquatic plant, Lemna paucicostata. The chemical structure and the absolute stereochemistry of LDS1 were determined as (9R,13R,11E,15Z)-9,13-dihydroxy-10-oxooctadeca-11,15-dienoic acid for its most abundant diastereomer. LDS1 was enzymatically produced when the plant was exposed to drought stress, and induced flowering at a concentration of 10 nM.     

Whole field spatial frequency analysis of double-or multiple-exposed PIV images

Speckle Velocimetry or high-image density PIV gives a velocity vector map of a twodimensional flow field by point-by-point spatial frequency analysis of local pattern at an interrogation spot in a double- or a multiple-exposed image of laser speckle or pseudo-speckle pattern generated by pulsed laser-light-sheet illuminations of a plane in the flow densely seeded with fine particles. The whole field spatial frequency analysis of the double- or multiple-exposed PIV image gives more useful information of the flow field. Optical Fourier transform is a conventional technique not only for the local spatial frequency analysis but for the whole field analysis. Filtering of spatial frequency is one of the typical techniques for the latter which can reconstruct a velocity contour or a component velocity contour map of the flow. Fundamentally this technique is a simple and efficient analogue method to get more information in the velocity field analysis of the flow than a digital image processing, but in practical applications the measurement is restricted to simple flows because of optical noise and low spatial resolution. In order to improve the technique, the fundamental characteristics of the filtering and the noise yielded in the filtering process must be investigated. Meanwhile, wavelet analysis can also be applied to the whole field spatial frequency analysis of PIV image. In this paper the filtering technique is examined by numerical convolution integral, and the results obtained are compared with ones obtained by the wavelet analysis.     

The International Conference on Advanced Optical Diagnostics in Fluids, Solids and Combustion (VSJ-SPIE04)

The International Conference on Advanced Optical Diagnostics in Fluids, Solids and Combustion (VSJ-SPIE04) was successfully held in Tokyo from December 4th to 7th in 2004 under the co-sponsorship of Visualization Society of Japan (VSJ) and The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE). Total 66 papers on forefront optical diagnostics and those applications were presented at the conference and the active and enthusiastic discussions were made. The results of the conference surely contribute to the future developments of optical diagnostics in the wide engineering fields.     

PIV measurement of toner particle motion in a micro-gap in the development process of electrophotography

In the development process of electrophotography, charged dielectric toner particles move in a micro-gap between the photoreceptor and the development roller to form images by the action of electrostatic force. To improve image quality, it is important to clarify the toner particle motion and the effects of the electric field on this motion. In the present study, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was applied to measure the toner particle motion and the results were compared to calculated results. It was confirmed that the toner velocity increased with increasing electric field intensity, and that the measurement results agreed with the calculated results. These results indicated the usefulness of PIV in analyzing toner particle motion in the development process.     

White-light speckle method for obtaining an equi-velocity map of a whole flow field

Experiments in Fluids - The surface of a flow seeded with aluminium oxide particles is photographed with two pulsed illuminations of whitelight. When the resultant double-exposure specklegram is...