Fast and Global Measurement of Free Surface Deformations

TL;DR

This paper introduces an optical profilometric technique for rapid, comprehensive measurement of free surface deformations in fluid dynamics, enabling detailed analysis of water wave modes and drop impacts.

Contribution

It presents a novel single-shot, high-resolution optical system for global measurement of free surface deformations using fringe pattern analysis.

Findings

Successful measurement of water wave trapped modes

Analysis of drop impact on thin liquid layers

High-resolution phase map reconstruction

Abstract

In this fluid dynamics video, we present an overview of the most important results recently obtained in our group using an optical profilometric technique that allows for single-shot global measurement of free-surface deformations. This system consists of a high-resolution system composed of a videoprojector and a digital camera. A fringe pattern of known characteristics is projected onto the free surface and its image is registered by the camera. The deformed fringe pattern arising from the surface deformations is later compared to the undeformed (reference) one, leading to a phase map from which the free surface can be reconstructed. Two examples are developed: (a) the study of water wave trapped modes and (b) the impact of a drop onto a thin layer of the same liquid.