DATA VALIDATION, FALSE VECTORS CORRECTION AND DERIVED MAGNITUDES CALCULATION ON PIV DATA

Due to the particular features that appear in the vector maps delivere d by the PIV method, there are postprocessing steps that can substanti ally enhance its performance. These steps include: detection of false vectors, correction of these vectors and the calculation of derived fl ow magnitudes. Many derived magnitudes can be of interest but this wor k focuses on the calculation of the first spatial derivative, componen t of flow divergence or vorticity, on a two-dimensional flow configura tion. New algorithms, developed for each step, are described, with the aim of jointly applying them in a coherent way. Where applicable, an analytical tool for filter analysis and design is explained. Applicati on to synthetic and real PIV data is presented as well as a performanc e contrast with other conventional algorithms, in terms of accuracy, f requency response and error propagation, among others.