FLOWlab

FLOWlab educational PIV system

• Circulating channel / aquarium (approx. 1200 mm x 150 mm x 300 mm) with thruster (200 W) and flow bodies (cylinder, wing sections, custom objects can easily be integrated by 3D printing)
• Measuring section approx. 140 x 125 x 200 mm, similar to the historical Prandtl water channel
• Laser options:
  • Low-energy light sheet with red pulsed laser class (500 mW, divergent, 0.5 mm thick, pulsed, frame-straddling, wavelength 638 nm)
  • Or light sheet with blue pulsed laser (5 W, 0.5 mm thick, pulsed, frame-straddling, wavelength 450 nm)
• Camera with 2.35 megapixel and frame rate of 160 fps (USB 3.0)
• Sensor diagonal 7.9 mm; 3.45 µm pixels
• With suitable bandpass filter
• Lens F1.4 f 16 mm, 2/3" sensor, low distortion
• Developed for PIVlab (open source software)
• Laser and camera can also be used for other experiments in water
• incl. seeding particles (50 µm polyamide)
• Optionally with laser warnign sign (automatic wireless remote control)

A paper with educational experiments in our FLOWlab is available here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02147 (preprint, accepted for publication in "DGLR-Fachsymposium der STAB - Deutsche Strömungsmechanische Arbeitsgemeinschaft", 13. - 14. November, Regensburg, Germany)

Example data from the FLOWlab can be downloaded from Google Drive.

Extensive series of measurements on the wake of cylinders, flat plates and profiles at different angles of attack can be found here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13982681