A whole-field three-dimensional (3D) particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) tool for diagnostics in fluid mechanics is presented. Specifically, it is demonstrated why and when PTV is the natural choice in 3D applications compared to particle image velocimetry (PIV). Three different tracking methods are investigated, namely the nearest neighbour, the neural network and the relaxation method. In order to demonstrate the use of PTV for 3D applications, the selected tracking schemes are implemented for use with the defocusing digital particle image velocimetry (DDPIV) technique. The performance of the tracking algorithms is evaluated based on synthetic 3D information. Furthermore, the potential benefit of a merging between the PIV and PTV approaches is explored within the DDPIV framework. The results show that the relaxation tracking method is the most robust and efficient, while the combined PIV/PTV analysis brings significant improvements solely with the neural network scheme. In terms of errors, PTV is found to be more sensitive to particle reconstruction errors than the DDPIV cross-correlation analysis.

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The unsteady flow phenomenon (identified as rotating instability) in the last stage of a low-pressure model steam turbine operated at very low mass flow conditions is numerically studied. This kind of instability has been observed previously in compressors and can be linked to the high structural stress levels associated with flow-induced blade vibrations. The overall objective of the study is to enhance the understanding of the rotating instability in steam turbines at off design conditions. A numerical analysis using a validated unsteady nonlinear time-domain CFD solver is performed. The 3D solution captures the massively separated flow structure in the rotor-exhaust region and the pressure ratio characteristics around the rotor tip of the test model turbine stage in good comparison with the experiment. A computational study with a multi-passage whole annulus domain on two different 2D blade sections is subsequently carried out. The computational results clearly show that a rotating instability in a turbine blading configuration can be captured by the 2D model. The frequency and spatial modal characteristics are analyzed. The simulations seem to be able to predict a rotating fluid dynamic instability with the similar characteristic features to those of the experiment. In contrast to many previous observations, the results for the present configurations suggest that the onset and development of rotating instabilities can occur without 3D and tip-leakage flows, although a quantitative comparison with the experimental data can only be expected to be possible with fully 3D unsteady solutions.

An optical whole-field 3D particle tracking velocimetry tool for diagnostics in microgravity experiments is presented. To demonstrate the potential of the technique it is applied to a Marangoni convection experiment and to a flow within a fluid column, as typical microgravity experiments. In experiments under gravity conditions in an observation volume for the Marangoni experiment of 20 × 14 × 14 mm3, 200-500 velocity vectors per time instant could be determined, whereas in the fluid column experiment the observation volume was 40 × 40 × 15 mm3, and up to 850 velocity vectors per time instant could be determined.

It is well known that the vibrational behavior of a mistuned bladed disk differs strongly from that of a tuned bladed disk. A large number of publications dealing with the dynamics of mistuned bladed disks are available in the literature. The vibrational phenomena analyzed in these publications are either forced vibrations or self-excited flutter vibrations. Nearly, all published literature on the forced vibrations of mistuned blades disks considers harmonic, i.e., steady-state, vibrations, whereas the self-excited flutter vibrations are analyzed by the evaluation of the margin against instabilities by means of a modal, or rather than eigenvalue, analysis. The transient forced response of mistuned bladed disk is not analyzed in detail so far. In this paper, a computationally efficient mechanical model of a mistuned bladed disk to compute the transient forced response is presented. This model is based on the well-known fundamental model of mistuning (FMM). With this model, the statistics of the transient forced response of a mistuned bladed disk is analyzed and compared to the results of harmonic forced response analysis.