High-powered light emitting diodes (LED) are investigated for possible uses as light sources in flow diagnostics, in particular, as an alternative to laser-based illumination in particle imaging flow velocimetry in side-scatter imaging arrangements. Recent developments in solid state illumination resulted in mass-produced LEDs that provide average radiant power in excess of 10 W. By operating these LEDs with short duration, pulsed currents that are considerably beyond their continuous current damage threshold, light pulses can be generated that are sufficient to illuminate and image micron-sized particles in flow velocimetry. Time-resolved PIV measurements in water at a framing rate of 2 kHz are presented. The feasibility of LED-based PIV measurements in air is also demonstrated.

This paper reports on near-wall two-component–two-dimensional (2C–2D) particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of a turbulent pipe flow at shear Reynolds numbers up to $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}=40\,000$ acquired in the CICLoPE facility of the University of Bologna. The 111.5 m long pipe of 900 mm diameter offers a well-established turbulent flow with viscous length scales ranging from $85~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ at $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}=5000$ down to $11~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ at $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}=40\,000$. These length scales can be resolved with a high-speed PIV camera at image magnification near unity. Statistically converged velocity profiles were determined using multiple sequences of up to 70 000 PIV recordings acquired at sampling rates of 100 Hz up to 10 kHz. Analysis of the velocity statistics shows a well-resolved inner peak of the streamwise velocity fluctuations that grows with increasing Reynolds number and an outer peak that develops and moves away from the inner peak with increasing Reynolds number.

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This study reports on experimentally observed near-wall reverse flow events in a fully developed flat plate boundary layer at zero pressure gradient with Reynolds numbers between Re τ = 1000 and Re τ = 2700. The reverse flow events are captured using high magnification particle image velocimetry sequences with record lengths varying from 50,000 to 126,000 samples. Time resolved particle image sequences allow singular reverse flow events to be followed over several time steps whereas long records of nearly statistically independent samples provide a variety of single snapshots at a higher spatial resolution. The probability of occurrence lies in the range of 0.01% to 0.1% which matches predictions made with direct numerical simulations (DNS). The self-similar size of the reverse flow bubble is about 30-50 wall units in length and 5 wall units in height which also agrees well to DNS data provided by

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