Qualitative and Quantitative

Schlieren Imaging Techniques:

A review

Under the joint supervision of

Prof. Ranjan Ganguly & Prof. Amitava Datta
Jadavpur University - Dept. Of Power Engineering

Name - Rohit Gupta

Year - 1st, Semester - 2nd
Exam Roll No. – M2POW1713
Reg. No. – 137366 of 2016-2017
Course - Master of Power Engineering
Subject – Term Paper Leading to Thesis (PG/PE/S/121)
 Contents
Topics Pages
1. Introduction 3
1.1 Background of imaging techniques
1.2-1.4 Comparison with other optical techniques
2. Schlieren Imaging 5
2.1 Historical Background
2.2 Mathematical Basis
2.3 Types of schlieren techniques
3. Detailed review 11
3.1 Evolution from classical setup to computer setup
3.2 Application of classical setups
3.3 Application of Background oriented Schlieren setup
3.4 Reconstruction of concentration field for KDP
crystal growth in water
4. Concluding remarks and motivation towards
26
the thesis
5.References 27

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1. Introduction:-
1.1 Background of imaging techniques:
Light rays have a tendency to bend towards the normal or away from the normal at
any point of incidence on a surface due to the refraction phenomenon. The medium
can be a denser or a rarer one with respect to each other and this forms the basis of
inhomogenity within the medium of light travel. When a light rays travel through a
region which is inhomogeneous (has a density, temperature or concentration
gradient) then they the refraction phenomenon occurs. This benchmarking concept
can be used to visualise and to quantify several flows of interest which are hard to
visualise by naked eyes. The usual Schlieren system was described way back by
Toepler (1864)1 but this phenomenon became popular due to the need of complex
flow visualisation after the emergence of CFD principles. The experiments based on
Schlieren imaging are often used to validate numerical computations for any fluid flow
based problem. A comparative study of similar methods can enumerate the relative
merits and demerits of Shadowgraph imaging, Schlieren imaging and interferomerty.
1.2 Comparison of Schlieren with other methods:

Name of Method Features

Shadowgraph Imaging  Shadowgraph is based the inflections in the
refractive index (spatial 2nd derivative of
refractive index).
 Less accurate as the order of derivative increases
the pixel intensity decreases
 Easiest among all methods.
 Uses sunlight as the light source.
 Can track large density gradients.
Schlieren Imaging  Schlieren is based the gradients in the refractive
index (spatial 1st derivative of refractive index).
 More accurate as the order of derivative, the
pixel intensity increases.
 More complex than Shadowgraph.
 Uses an artificial point/extended light source.
 Can track intermediate density gradient.
Interferometry  Interferometry is based on direct change in
refractive index.
 Most accurate method.
 As number of optical appraratus increases the
complexity also increases.
 Can track small density gradients.

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1.3 Comparison by Experimental Setup:

Fig 1: a) Mach-Zender Interferometry, b) Z-type Schlieren system,

c) Shadowgraphy2

1.4 Comparison by ouput images (Case-Candle plume):

Fig 2: Output images of the three methods3

From the above comparison it is evident that interferometry will definitely produce
the most accurate and distinguishable change in presence of an inhomogenity but for
an expense of increased complexity. Hence a method with intermediate complexity,
accuracy and visualising capability which is Schlieren imaging is accepted widely.

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2 Schlieren Imaging :-
2.1 Historical background:
Robert Hooke established the new field of optics in inhomogeneous media as a
scientific endeavour in the 17th century while Huygens and a few other scientists
developed a variety of visualisation techniques in the time between Hooke and mid
19th century, the techniques did not find widespread use and were forgotten until
August Toepler re-invented the schlieren technique. In fact, it was Toepler who named
the technique “Schlieren” after the German name for optical inhomogeneties in glass.
One other name that is to be mentioned Leon Foucalt1. His contribution to this field
was indirect. He developed knife-edge test for telescope mirrors a few years before
Toepler’s schlieren method, and the optical elements of the two techniques are
almost identical.
Photographic media of sufficient speed for schlieren imaging were not yet
available in Toepler’s era, so he drew his observations by hand. Toepler eventually hit
upon the use of an electric spark to generate sharp acoustic disturbances by various
names including “sound waves” but they were actually shock waves travelling faster
than sound. Using a spark gap as a schlieren light source, Toepler observed this shock
wave motion with microsecond flashes. His work inspired Ernst Mach and he took first
photographs of shock waves and was first to show that shock waves travelled faster
than sound.
Schlieren imaging’s importance was first reported in the literature in the PhD
thesis of Scardin (1933)1 named as “The Toepler Schlieren Technique – Principles for
its Application and Quantitative Evaluation”. 1st stage of development was mostly
based on various mirror and lens based Schlieren system.
2.2 Mathematical basis for converting refraction to schlieren images:
For air and gases the density (𝜌) and refractive index (n) are related by
Gladstone-dale equation which is 𝒏 − 𝟏 = 𝒌𝝆 … … … (𝟏)
𝟐
−𝟒 𝟔.𝟕𝟏𝟑𝟐×𝟏𝟎−𝟖
where, 𝒌(𝝀) = 𝟐. 𝟐𝟐𝟒𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎 . [𝟏 + ( ) ] … … … (𝟐)
𝝀

For air the value of Gladstone-Dale coefficient, “k”, is 0.23 cm3/gm under standard
conditions. For other gases it varies roughly from 0.1 to 1.5.
Equation (1) shows that “n” is only dependent weakly upon “𝜌”. So if we are to
detect small gas density variation optically we will need very sensitive optics.
In simple view of geometric optics, the interest is bending or refraction of light rays.
The z-axis of a right handed Cartesian co-ordinate system is taken as the direction of
light propagation. All the optical inhomogeneities occur in the x-y plane which is
perpendicular to the z-direction.
The optical inhomogeneities refract light rays in proportion to their spatial
gradients in refractive index in x-y plane. The resulting curvatures are given by

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 𝝏𝟐 𝒙 𝟏 𝝏𝒏 𝝏𝟐 𝒚 𝟏 𝝏𝒏
= , = ........ (3)
𝝏𝒛𝟐 𝒏 𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒛𝟐 𝒏 𝝏𝒚
Integrating the equation (3) we have the deflections in x-direction and y-direction
𝝏𝒙 𝟏 𝝏𝒏
X - direction, 𝜺𝒙 = =∫ 𝒅𝒛 .........(4a)
𝝏𝒛 𝒏 𝝏𝒙
𝝏𝒚 𝟏 𝝏𝒏
Y - direction, 𝜺𝒚 = =∫ 𝒅𝒛 .........(4b)
𝝏𝒛 𝒏 𝝏𝒚

Fig 3: Simple lens based Toepler’s classical Schlieren setup3

Light from a point source is placed at the focus of 1st plano convex lens which
collimates the light in a parallel beam. A second plano convex lens focuses the beam
to an image of the light source. A knife edge is mounted normal to the beam is
located at the focus of the second lens.

Fig 4: Actual setup with a light source of finite dimension with knife edge view in x-
y plane1
From the if “𝐹” is the focal length of the 2nd lens , “𝑎” is the vertical dimension of
unobstructed image, "∆𝑎" is the upward shift at the knife edge plane and "𝜀" is the
deflection angle the from simple geometry is can be written that for very small angle
of deflections along y direction,
∆𝒂
𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝜺 = 𝜺 =
𝑭
6
 => ∆𝒂 = 𝜺𝑭 … … … (𝟓)
If the light is uniformly bright then the amount of light "𝐼", forming a small image
area would change and is given by,
∆𝑰 ∆𝒂
= … … … (𝟔)
𝑰 𝒂
∆𝐼
Combining equations (5) and (6) and solving for we have
𝐼
∆𝑰 𝜺𝑭
= … … … (𝟕)
𝑰 𝒂
∆𝐼
Where is called image contrast.
𝐼
The minimum measureable angle is defined as the angle which produces 10%
contrast in image. From equation (7) it is given by,
𝒂
𝜺𝒎𝒊𝒏 = 𝟎. 𝟏 ( ) … … … (𝟖)
𝑭
Another important parameter is Schlieren sensitivity Σ , also known as Contrast
Sensitivity is defined as the rate of change of image contrast with respect to
refraction angle and expressed by,
∆𝑰
𝝏( )
𝚺= 𝑰 = (𝑭) 𝒓𝒂𝒅−𝟏 … … … (𝟗)
𝝏𝜺 𝒂
The maximum sensitivity of the setup corresponds to the minimum angle it can
measure and is expressed by,
𝑭
𝚺𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 𝟏𝟎 ( ) 𝒓𝒂𝒅−𝟏 … … … (𝟏𝟎)
𝒂
2.3 Types of Schlieren imaging techniques:-

2.3.1 Mirror Based Classical Optical System

Some single concave mirror systems are illustrated in Fig. 5. The slit and the
knife edge may be placed on opposite sides of the optical axis, or a half-
silvered mirror may be used. If collimated light illumination is required, then a
concave mirror may be used in combination with a plane mirror. In some of
these systems light passes twice through the area of interest and so a
doubling in sensitivity is achieved.

Fig 5: Single pass mirror based Schlieren system3

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 Fig 6: Double pass mirror based Schlieren system (Z-type Schlieren system)3

2.3.2 Focusing Schlieren Optical System

These systems consists of plano-convex lenses, light source, Fibre optic, knife-
edge stops. The extended light source is first converted to a point source
through an optical fibre and manual aperture control to increase the
sensitivity and then it diverges from that point and passed through 1 st stage
plano-convex lens and it is converted to collimated beam which is passed
through the test specimen. The regions where density changes occur suffer
an angular deflection with respect to the horizontal axis. These rays are then
guided to a 2nd stage decollimating plano-convex lens which converges back
the light rays to a focal point. The knife edge is kept at the focal length of the
2nd lens in order to regulate intensity of the schlieren images captured in the
CCD camera.

Fig 7: Double pass lens based Schlieren system3

2.3.3 Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) System

The schematic drawing of a BOS setup is shown in Fig.8. While the basic
schlieren configuration often needs several high-quality lenses and mirrors
guide the light beam, BOS needs only an illuminated background image, a
CCD camera, and a computer with image acquisition software. The absence of
precision optical component makes BOS a cheaper alternative. It also allows
BOS to be more easily scalable to whatever size and precision is needed to
accurately capture the density field in and around a given test model.

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Classical schlieren setup is preferably operated in a darkroom environment,
since any ambient light disrupts the image. In contrast, a BOS can operate
with additional light sources, as the BOS technique is based on the virtual
displacement of the background image, not just the intensity of light reaching
the camera. In order for BOS to generate meaningful images, the background
image must have high contrast and must be sensitive to small displacements.
A randomized grid of small black dots on a white background serves this
purpose well.

Fig 8: Schematic of BOS3

Fig 9: BOS sample background pattern (pattern type 1 printed on top half
and pattern 2 printed on the bottom half)4

9
2.3.4 Laser based Schlieren System
A laser may be used as a light source in a Schlieren system. The coherence of
laser light is often embarrassing as unwanted diffraction patterns appear in
the picture. Imperfections in the optical elements of the system cause
irregularities in the background of the pictures. Laser systems are also
sometimes susceptible to vibration problems. As Laser is a miniature
collimated light source hence an extra plano-convex lens decollimating lens is
required in order to converge the beam and then diverge.

Fig 10: Laser Schlieren Visualisation of a candle5

2.3.5 Rainbow/colour Schlieren System

Colour systems produce attractive photographs which are readily understood
and explained to non-scientists by replacing the knife edge by a color filter.
Since the eye is more sensitive to changes in colour than changes in contrast,
colour pictures are readily interpreted, and the boundaries of opaque objects
are clearly defined. Most colour systems use a tri-colour filter in place of the
knife edge. Many different arrangements of filters have been used to
minimize the effects of diffraction and to code the direction of refractive
index gradients. Alternative colour methods split up white light using prisms,
diffraction gratings, interference filters and chromatic aberration.

Fig 11: Rainbow Schllieren System6

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 Fig 12: Colour filter7 Fig 13: Output image of rainbow Schlieren6
3. Detailed review and evolution from classical setup to computer
based advanced schlieren setup :-
3.1 Evolution from Conventional Setup to Computer based setup:-

Till now the experimental setups that have been discussed posses some relative
merits of one over other. The classical mirror or lens based schlieren systems with
knife edge cut off, colour filter cut-off, graded filter cut-off will provide us qualitative
visualisation about the region of interest which has temperature, density or
concentration gradient but however it fails to enlighten the quantitative or the
mathematical outcome. However simple calculations on flame, flow cone angles in
compressible flow are reported in literature. Hence an overview to the Schlieren
Imaging literature confirms that if we want to extract or reconstruct the density,
temperature or concentration field the conventional Toepler or Schardin’s method will
not serve the purpose. Detailed discussion regarding the application of conventional
Schlieren setups will be presented in later sections.
The choice of lasers as a source of illumination, improvements in CCD
technology and fast computers for image acquisition and analysis have resulted in a
resurgence of quantitative optical methods. In recent years, there have been several
attempts to quantify certain flow features such as the amplitude of internal waves
(Sutherland et al 1999; Onu et al 2003) 8, density gradients (McMackin et al 1995;
Meier 1999)3 and density perturbations (Dalziel et al 1998, 2000)8, broadly using the
Schlieren principle. Some of the common steps in such procedures include: imaging
(with a CCD camera) of a background through a flow of interest, and software analysis
that manipulates the data to find the density or density gradient field. McMackin et al
(1995)3 used a lenslet array (Hartmann sensor) to split a single laser beam into a
number of sub-apertures and then detect their individual focal spot intensity pattern
changes which occur due to the optical path differentials of the phase object.
Thereafter tomographic techniques were used to reconstruct the three-dimensional
density gradient field. A method called ‘‘synthetic Schlieren’’, proposed by Dalziel et al
(1998, 2000)8, was applied to measure the gradient of the perturbation density and

11
the amplitudes of waves generated by an oscillating cylinder in a stratified flow, and
the results agree very well with theoretical values (Dalziel et al 2000; Sutherland et al
1999)8. In 1999, Meier proposed the Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS)9 technique
and background oriented optical tomography (BOOT)9, which have the potential to
determine the density field. BOS can be described as a simple Schlieren technique
based on image displacements of some photographic background by Schlieren in the
transfer channel (Meier 1999)9. A major advantage of this technique is that it requires
only a digital still camera with adequate resolution. The principle of Background
Oriented Schlieren has broad similarities with synthetic Schlieren; they both exploit
the bending of light rays passing through a region of density gradient, followed by
mathematical techniques to extract the density field for the plane of interest. Initial
studies (Richard et al 200010; Raffel et al 200010; Meier 20029), demonstrated several
possible applications of BOS; these include density fields of helicopter-generated
vortices and supersonic jets, but these studies have been predominantly qualitative
with no comparisons with theory or measurements.

3.2 Applications of classical setup :-

The classical setup was typically the Toepler’s or Schardin’s setup with a few
purposeful modifications. The literature reports a few types of setup-single mirror
schlieren system, Z-type double pass schlieren system, Double pass length based
schlieren system, Laser based Triple lens Schlieren system, Colour Schlieren system,
Graded filter based schlieren system etc.
3.2.1 Applications in Flame and combustion analysis:
Cladwell et al. (1951)11 attempted to determine the Laminar Flame speed of
Methane - Air premixed flame by mirror based schlieren arrangement by
measuring the semi apex angle of the schlieren cone established on a Bunsen
burner. If measured under proper burner design and arrangement this
method tends to give the actual burning velocity as the schlieren cone is the
surface where the density gradient is maximum. The luminous cone angle
fails to predict the flame speed accurately. But this article fails to predict the
burning velocity correctly due to some abnormal flames caused by
oscillations in burner gas.

Fig 14: Schlieren Photographs of Methane-Air Flames at Different Gas

Velocities11

12
Fells et al. (1969)12 tried to bridge the shortcomings of burning velocity
measurement by modifying the burner type as share edge orifice burner and
used the total area of schlieren cone by some modification in the base
diameter. This has predicted the burning velocity of Methane-air premixed
flames correctly with and error of less than 1%. The results and important
parameters of the article are represented in the following images-
Parameters of a nonconical flame:-
h = Height of cone
l = Slant height
D = Base diameter of schlieren cone
Dc = Decreased base diameter for
non-conical approximation
α = Semi cone angle

Fig 15: Non-conical flame12

Fig 15: Experimental data12

From the experimental table it is seen that method four predicts the burning
velocity with least amount of error. This method assumes the schlieren cone
to be of height h and diameter Dc.
During later stages of combustion and flame oriented research Liao et al.
(2006)13 investigated the laminar burning velocities of methanol air mixture
based centrally ignited spherically expanding flame at elevated temperatures
using Z-type Schlieren imaging system.

13
 Fig 15: a) Constant volume combustion chamber, b)Schlieren setup13

Fig 16: Typical growing schlieren flame kernels for methanol–air mixture
with ᶲ= 1.2. The time interval is 4 ms, Tu = 358 K, Pu = 0.1 MPa13

The stretch imposed on the spherical flame front has been explored
experimentally from the schlieren images. As a consequence, the unstretched
laminar burning velocities of methanol–air flames are derived.
Tang et al. (2008)14 experimentally determined the laminar burning
characteristics of the spherically expanding premixed propane–hydrogen–air
flames was conducted at room temperature and atmospheric pressure by
using radius vs time data with the help of Z-type schlieren imaging setup.

Fig 17: Experimental Setup14

14
Bouvet et al. (2010)15 performed an experimental comparison of Schlieren
imaging and OH* chemiluminescence for Characterization of Syngas laminar
flames using the Bunsen burner configuration and concluded The flame
surface area methodology based on the maximum OH* chemiluminescence
emission yields an overall good accuracy when compared to the available
experimental data for H2/air mixtures. The flame cone angle methodology
performed on schlieren images was found to give systematically over-
predicting the burning velocity.

Visible image Schlieren image OH* chemiluminescence

Fig 18: Comparison of three images15

X. Bao et al. (2017)16 experimentally determined Laminar flame

characteristics of cyclopentanone at elevated temperatures by Z-type
schlieren imaging. Cyclopentanone, a product of biomass pyrolysis of
agricultural waste, has certain advantages as a biofuel candidate but so far
little is known about its combustion characteristics. This was one of the very
few attempts to study the laminar flame characteristics of cyclopentanone,
including stretched flame propagation speed, unstretched flame propagation
speed, and laminar burning velocity. It was also compared with gasoline and
ethanol, using the outwardly propagating spherical flame method and the
high-speed Schlieren photography technique.

Fig 19: Schematic of Experimental Setup16

15
 Fig 20: Schlieren images of three fuels at (Initial condition: ᶲ= 1.2 and T =
423 K, P = 0.1 MPa)16
It is evident from the images that gasoline will have the least burning velocity
among the three, followed by cyclopentanone and ethanol will have the
highest burning velocity. The experimental study and numerical validation in
this paper reports the maximum burning velocity values at an initial
temperature of 423 K and initial pressure of 0.1 MPa is as follows, 0.72 m/s
for gasoline 0.82 m/s for cyclopentanone, and 0.86 m/s for ethanol.

3.2.2 Application for visualising Ultrasound generated pressure field:

Kudo et al. (2004)17 proposed a new and low cost Schlieren system for
visualising ultrasound. If an obstacle is placed at a distance of an integral
multiple of half of the wavelength then the generated and reflected sound
waves interfere and produce standing wave. This standing wave will produce
alternate dark and bright fringes which are nothing but region of alternate
high pressure and low pressure region.

Fig 21: Experimental Setup17

16
Simulations were also made to validate the results obtained from schlieren
imaging. Another experiment was done by measuring the membrane
hydrophone to compare the peak pressure variation at particular transducer
driving voltage.

Fig 22: Comparison of schlieren image and simulated image17

Fig 23: Comparison of measurement of ultrasound intensity by hydrophone

and Schlieren17

Möller et al. (2013)18 visualised ultrasonic standing waves in mm-sized

chambers for ultrasonic particle manipulation. A vertical schlieren setup and
an investigation with the mm-sized chamber used to agglomerate particles is
presented here. The schlieren images show a two-dimensional representation
of the whole pressure distribution recorded simultaneously with a good
resolution in time. The gained description of the pressure field was shown to

17
be in agreement with a numerical simulation. Thermal effects as well as
streaming effects were shown.
𝝀
𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝜽 = … … … (𝟏𝟏)
𝚲
Where,
𝜃 = Diffraction angle
𝜆 = Optical wavelength
Λ = Acoustic wavelength

𝜺 = 𝜽𝒇𝟐 … … … (𝟏𝟐)
Where,
𝜀 = Diffracted beam
separation distance
𝜃 = diffraction angle
𝑓2 = focal lens of decolimating
plano convex lens

Fig 24: Experimental Setup18

Fig 25: Schlieren image showing the pressure distribution of a standing

pressure wave over time. (δx indicates the distance that a particle trapped in
a pressure node would travel at this position with a frequency sweep from
2.1 MHz to 2.3 MHz which corresponds to a time span of 4 s.)18

18
 Fig 26: Schlieren visualization of acoustic pressure field and lower
harmonics. Excitation frequencies are a) 1.50 MHz and b) 1.71 MHz. The
arrows indicate one wavelength.18

3.2.3 Study of supersonic microjets:

Settles at al. (1996) 19 studied the characteristics of supersonic microjets.
Miniature axisymmetric supersonic nozzles were produced with exit Mach
numbers ranging from 1.0 to 2.8 by forming Pyrex capillary tubing of 0.6 to
1.2 mm inside diameter into converging diverging channels. The surfaces of
these nozzles were quite smooth providing frictionless flows at perfect
expansion. Schlieren visualisation by single mirror imaging setup and pitot
pressure measurement of the resulting microjets was compared with the
literature available for jets produced by larger scale nozzles. A postponed
transition to turbulence is observed in these microjets due to their low
Reynolds number. Hence Supersonic microjets can provide a more effective
small-scale high pressure gas delivery than sonic nozzles at equal mass flow
rate.

Fig 27: Schlieren Images for Mach Fig 28: Schlieren Images for Mach 2.2
2.2 supersonic jets of 1.2 mm supersonic jets of 0.6 mm diameter
diameter Exit pressure ratios- Exit pressure ratios- a) 2.0 , b) 1.0, c)
a) 2.0 , b) 1.0, c) 0.819 0.819

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3.2.4 Investigation of human thermal plume and human cough:
Settles et al. investigated the human thermal plume (2006)20 and human
cough with and without masks for aerosol infection control (2009) 21. The
schlieren imaging provides a qualitative visualisation and PIV techniques were
used to produce the quantitative velocity contours. The human thermal
plume model was also validated in the article by a CFD model of a man
standing in a room which has a quiescent surrounding.

Fig 29: Schlieren image (front view) Fig 30: Schlieren image (Side View)

Fig 31: PIV image (Front view) Fig 32: PIV image (Side view)

Fig 33: Contours of velocity Fig 34: Contours of velocity

magnitude in the coronal plane (PIV) magnitude in the sagittal plane
(PIV)
It is evident from the saggital plane schlieren images and also from saggital
plane velocity contours that the human respiration disrupts the thermal
boundary layer about the face.

20
 Fig 35: Contours of velocity constructed from Schlieren image of
human cough (Also known as “Schlieren PIV”)21

3.3 Applications of Background oriented Schlieren (BOS) technique and

Background oriented optical tomography:-

As discussed earlier the BOS is much advanced technique is much dependent on

computer based post processing than expensive optical setup. The density extraction
using BOS was first attempted by Venkatakrishnan et al. (2004) 22. The study
represents reproduction of schlieren image with quantitative information about the
density field from BOS image pair. The process of BOS (Meier 19999; Richard et al
200010; Raffel et al 200010) is as follows.
An image “I” of an object is a convolution of the background or object function
“B” and the transfer channel function “T”:
I=B*T
To explore the nature of the transfer channel, a deconvolution seems the appropriate
tool. The deconvolution will describe the transfer channel if the object and the image
are given. For this purpose, usually several images of the background with different
properties of the transfer channel are used. The most convenient situation is given in
the case of a comparison of a background with no distortion with one which has the

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distorted transfer channel. This procedure provides reasonably detailed information
on the deflector in the transfer channel, depending on the accuracy in the process of
deconvolution and imaging. By the process of deconvolution a two-dimensional
integral deflection map of the phase object is achieved, which is very similar to a
bidirectional schlieren picture.
In the first step (Meier 1999)9 an image is taken of a random dot pattern with the air
(phase object) at rest. The second image is taken in the presence of the flow
containing density gradients. Cross-correlation of the two images yields the
displacements of the particles in the x and y directions. Here, x is along the freestream
direction – also the axis of symmetry for the present case – (with the origin at the
model tip) and perpendicular to the line-of sight direction (z), and y is the vertical axis
(origin at model centreline).
Since the deflection of a single beam contains information about the spatial gradient
of the refractive index integrated along the axial path, the image deflection “𝜀” is
defined as-
𝟏 𝒁𝑫 +∆𝒁𝑫 𝜹𝒏
𝜺= ∫ 𝒅𝒛 … … … (𝟏𝟑)
𝒏𝟎 𝒁𝑫 −∆𝒁𝑫 𝜹𝒚
with the assumption that the half-width of the region of density gradient ∆𝑍𝐷 ≪ 𝑍𝐷 .

Fig 36: Optical path for density gradient measurements by light deflection 9

Further, it is seen from geometry (see Fig. 1) that the virtual image displacement Δ𝑦′ is
related to the image displacement Δ𝑦 by the lens distance from the background 𝑍𝐵
and the image distance from the lens 𝑍𝑖 , which can be replaced for large 𝑍𝐵 by the
focal length 𝑓 of the lens (Meier 2002)9:
𝚫𝒚′ 𝚫𝒚 𝚫𝒚
= = … … … … … (𝟏𝟒)
𝒁𝑩 𝒁𝒊 𝒇
∆𝒚′
For small angle of deflections 𝜺 =
𝒁𝑫
∆𝒚𝒁𝑩
Hence, 𝜺 = … … … (𝟏𝟓)
𝒁𝑫 𝒇

22
Equations (13) and (15) relates the geometric dimensions and gradient of
refractive inex in the flow field-
∆𝒚𝒁𝑩 𝟏 𝒁𝑫 +∆𝒁𝑫 𝜹𝒏
= ∫ 𝒅𝒛 … … … … . (𝟏𝟔)
𝒁𝑫 𝒇 𝒏𝟎 𝒁𝑫 −∆𝒁𝑫 𝜹𝒚
∆𝑦
It is concluded from equation (16) that the sensitivity, depends on 𝑍𝐵 , 𝑍𝐷 , 𝑓.
𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑(𝑛)
Sensitivity increases with increase of distance between the object and screen, and also
with increase of focal length.
Therefore we can summarise the density evaluation process by the following steps-
1) Obtained displacement at each points of image are the density gradients.
2) Gradient of displacements will lead to a 2 nd order elliptic partial differential
equation known as Poisson equation (eqn. 17), the solution of which yields the line-of-
sight (LOS) integrated density distribution, which is a projection of the three-
dimensional density field in the direction of viewing.
𝝏𝟐 𝝆(𝒙. 𝒚) 𝝏𝟐 𝝆(𝒙, 𝒚)
+ = 𝑺(𝒙, 𝒚) … … … (𝟏𝟕)
𝝏𝒙𝟐 𝝏𝒚𝟐
3) The distribution of density in a given plane is then calculated by means of a
transformation from this projection. The Fourier domain (Frequency based)
approaches are Radon transform, Abel transform (Walsh and Kihm 1995), Filtered
Back Projection Algorithm (FBPT) (Feng et al 2001)23. The Linear algebraic approach
includes Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (ART) (Muralidhar 2000)22, Simultaneous
Iterative Reconstruction Technique (SIRT)24 and Simultaneous Algebraic
Reconstruction Technique (SART)24.

A first step toward the determination of the density distribution by computation of

the Poisson equation for BOS data of two-dimensional transonic flows has been
presented by Richard et al. (2000)22 and Richard and Raffel (2001)10. The density field
of axisymmetric flows can also be computed from the schlieren data after applying an
Abel or Fourier transform inversion algorithm. In this case, the transform algorithm
rebuilds the density field from ray deflections. This has been shown, for example, by
Venkatakrishnan (2005)25, Venkatakrishnan and Suriyanarayanan (2009) 26 and
Sourgen et al. (200427, 201228). Kindler et al. (2007)29 applied the tomographic
reference-free BOS method for the study of rotor blade tip vortices. Ota et al. (2011) 30
demonstrated that the Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (ART) can also be used in
order to derive density distributions. According to them, the ART method is favourable
for applications where a wind tunnel model is in the line of sight. Wang et al. (2013)31
studied the Shock Waves in Water Using BOS and FBPT algorithm.

23
The post processing of BOS images and density extraction for axi-symmetric flows
(Venkatakrishnan et al. 2004)22 is explained by following figures-
Step 1: Obtaining the BOS pair with and without flow.

Fig 37: BOS image pair (Left - without flow, Right – with flow)22
Step 2: Calculation of the displacement field and extraction of velocity vectors by
cross- correlation and image subtraction at the displaced points.

Fig 38: The average displacement field: vectors of density gradients 22

Step 3: Extraction of a projected density field by solving Poisson eqation (eqn. 17).

Fig 39: The projected density field, as computed from the Poisson
equation22
24
Step 4: Using Filtered back projection algorithm for actual density field (back
projected) extraction.

Fig 40: The back-projected normalized density field22

Some of the publications on the density determination for complex flows deal with
investigations of an asymmetric mixture of jets (Venkatakrishnan et al. 2011)32 or an
asymmetric cold streak in a turbine engine’s exhaust jet (Adamczuk et al. 2013 33;
Hartmann et al. 201534). If single jets were investigated by tomographically evaluated
BOS recordings, the authors aimed for the description of the unsteady effects.
Atcheson et al. (2008)35 applied tomographic BOS to unsteady gas flows. Goldhahn
and Seume (2007)36 and Goldhahn et al. (2009)37 described the tomographic
reconstruction by a filtered back-projection algorithm and applied the method to
determine the density distribution of asymmetric under expanded free air jets out of a
double-hole orifice.
3.4 Reconstruction of concentration field for KDP crystal growth in water:-
Apart from application in flames and density field extraction, the literature of Sclieren
imaging also reports few benchmarking studies on concentration field extraction
(Srivastava et al. 2005) 38. It demonstrates the extraction of Salt concentration
distribution around a potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystal growing from its
aqueous solution using a laser schlieren technique. They have used Convolution
Backprojection Theorem (CBP) for reconstruction of concentration field. A
comparative study of interferometry, schlieren and shadowgraph for visualizing
convection around a KDP crystal was also performed (Srivastava et al. 2004)2. Once
again it proves the relative merits and experimental complexity of one over other.

25
 Fig 41: Schlieren images of the
convective field above the growing
crystal as recorded by turning the
crystal at increments of 10°/step while
keeping the growth chamber fixed38
Fig 42: Reconstructed concentration
fields at various horizontal planes
above the growing crystal. The
projection data in the form of two-
dimensional schlieren images were
recorded by turning the growing crystal
at increments of 10°/step while keeping
the growth chamber fixed.38

4. Concluding Remarks and Motivation towards the thesis:-

The literature review of Schlieren imaging principles and application enlightens us about
its merit and drawback over other method and shows the gradual transformation 21 st century
schlieren setups have very few optical components. Hence the expense of total experimental
setup goes down. It also highlights some of the mathematical algorithms used for post
processing and desired data extraction from the images. Although the conventional schlieren
setup seemed promising but it failed to give quantitative results. The literature based on BOS,
tomographic 2-D reconstruction, conventional schlieren provided a rich knowledge mostly
about flame angle calculation, flame area calculation, concentration field extraction,
ultrasonic flow visualisation, investigation and visualisation of human thermal plume, density
data extraction for small and large scale supersonic shock wave. So there is a gap noticed in
the BOS literature regarding the heat transfer based applications. Hence an experimental
setup based on BOS is being developed which will visualise and quantify the asymmetric
density field of a condensation heat transfer problem in presence of non-condensable gases.
The condensation process in this experimental setup is manipulated by applying hydrophilic
and hydrophobic surfaces. Further comparisons are to be done in between the BOS outputs of
condensations different surfaces (hydrophilic, hydrophobic and super-hydrophobic). Finally
the processed and filtered BOS images and images captured by classical Schlieren setup with
various knife edge cut-offs will be compared to determine the amount of deviation in the pixel
intensity by applying BOS.

26
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