LSPIV implementation for environmental flow in various laboratory and field cases

Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) is an extension of a quantitative imaging technique to measure water surface velocities using simple and inexpensive equipment. This paper describes the implementation of imaged-based LSPIV in eight different environmental flow and hydraulic engineering applications for the investigation of complex configurations with and without sediment transport (bed and suspended loads). These applications include the investigation of sedimentation in shallow reservoirs, run-of-river hydropower plants, side weirs used to control bank overflow, flow fields in different spillway configurations with and without Piano Key Weir (PKW), oil spills with flexible and rigid barriers, groin fields, river confluence, and sediment flushing in reservoirs. The paper summarises some special problems encountered in such study cases. The selection and adjustments of the parameters to solve them properly were examined. The potential of LSPIV to measure surface flow velocities in the context of river and dam engineering projects is shown. Despite significant variations of natural and artificial illuminations and seeding tracers in the laboratory, field, wind, and water surface elevation, LSPIV was applied successfully to obtain velocity measurements. LSPIV has proven to be a reliable, flexible, and inexpensive flow diagnostic tool that can be employed successfully in many engineering applications.

► Applications of LSPIV in various environmental flow and hydraulic projects have been analyzed.
► The potential of LSPIV to measure flow velocities in the context of river and dam projects is shown.
► LSPIV prototype was accurate, with a mean error of 4%, compared to the FX-8100 measurements.
► LSPIV showed the potential to become competitive with conventional flow measurement techniques.
► The next challenge is how to apply LSPIV in more severe weather conditions.