Standard images for particle-image velocimetry

Particle-image velocimetry (PIV) offers lots of advantages for studying flu id mechanics. Many PIV techniques and systems have been developed. However, no standard evaluation tool for evaluating the effectiveness and accuracy of the PIV systems has been established. To popularize PIV practically, for each PN system there should be some means of evaluating the performance. P IV involves two processes, i.e. capturing the image for visualization and t he image analysis. In order to evaluate the image analysis, the use of stan dard images has been proposed. Using these images, anybody can evaluate the effectiveness and accuracy of the PN image analysis. The standard PIV imag es can be grouped into three categories, i.e. standard PIV images for two-d imensional, custom-made images with tunable parameters and images for a tra nsient flow. The standard PIV images that we have developed are distributed via the web site http://www.vsj.or.jp/piv as part of a collaboration with the Visualization Society of Japan. They can be applied to investigate the performance of any PIV technique. The standard PIV images that we have deve loped have already been accessed by more than 3 000 researchers around the world.