A high-resolution PIV-LIF flow visualisation system for environmental fluid dynamics

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Within the waters of the Great Lakes and the coastal ocean, turbulent mixing and advective processes determine the dispersion of chemicals, biota, sediments and contaminants.  The goal of my research program is to develop concise mathematical models of these physical transport processes. The equipment requested here, a Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) flow visualisation system, will be used to investigate turbulence and vortex dynamics in laboratory studies of environmental flows. The high resolution measurements made with the PIV-LIF flow visualisation system will allow my students and I to quantify and test mathematical models of turbulent mixing and dispersion of chemicals, sediment, heat and nutrients within the flows that are strongly influenced by vertical density stratification, and the Earth's rotation. Understanding how such dissolved matter is transported and dispersed is essential in order to develop economic and environmental solutions to current pollution problems in the inland and coastal waters of Canada.