Abstract
A measurement system based on color image processing was developed to obtain simultaneously both velocity and temperature distributions in thermal flow fields. Flow visualization was accomplished by the use of thermosensitive liquid crystal tracers. The visualized image gave both flow and temperature patterns.
A modified correlation method was used to obtain the velocity vector distribution. In addition, an algorithm for the calibration of color to temperature is presented to obtain the temperature distribution.
An unsteady natural convection, which is a simple unsteady thermal flow, was chosen to confirm the appropriateness of this technique. Consequently, the flow and temperature fields were measured simultaneously and it was confirmed that the quantitative results agree with a typical pattern of unsteady natural convection.
