Upgrade to volumetric velocimetry critical for the advancement of the current research programs

***申请的资金用于从现有的平面粒子图像测速（PIV）系统升级到体积测速能力。该系统依靠激光照明和数字成像来测量流体体积中的所有三个速度分量。速度测量在一系列前沿研究应用中被申请人大量使用。申请人有活跃的研究小组，探索的主题包括：用于下一代微型飞行器和涡轮机械气动设计的机翼上的层流分离气泡，用于能量收集的可变形表面的涡流冲击事件，为分布式环境传感器提供动力，以及理解流体-结构相互作用问题中的信息流，作为评估土木结构在风环境中如何相互作用的新工具。还有其他潜在的应用。所有这些研究课题都得到了国家和国际政府和工业基金的支持，涉及到固有的三维流动，需要体积测速来阐明潜在的物理现象，以开发改进的工程解决方案。因此，缺乏足够的研究工具严重阻碍了申请人研究项目的进展，并剥夺了使用最先进设备进行HQP培训的宝贵机会。它也不允许申请人从他们目前的活动中追求新的和创新的研究方向，并限制了他们与领先研究实验室竞争的能力。提议的TOMO PIV系统经过精心设计，以解决这些问题，并为HQP提供新的培训机会。该建议最大限度地利用现有设备，并使用申请人的补助金和机构提供的额外资金。

***The funding requested is for an upgrade to volumetric velocity measurement capabilities from the existing planar Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system. The system relies on laser illumination and digital imaging to measure all three velocity components in a flow volume. Velocity measurements are heavily used by the applicants in a range of cutting-edge research applications. The applicants have active research groups exploring topics ranging from laminar separation bubbles on airfoils for aerodynamic design of the next generation of micro air vehicles and turbomachinery, to vortex impact events with deformable surfaces for energy harvesting to power distributed environmental sensors, to understanding the information flow in fluid-structure interaction problems as a novel tool for assessing how civil structures interact with one another in a windy environment, amongst other potential applications. All of these research topics, which are supported by national and international government and industrial funding, involve inherently three-dimensional flows that require volumetric velocimetry to elucidate the underlying physics towards developing improved engineering solutions. Thus, the lack of adequate research tools is seriously hampering the progress of the applicants' research programs and denies valuable opportunities for HQP training with state-of-the-art equipment. It also does not allow the applicants to pursue new and innovative research directions stemming from their current activities and limits their ability to compete with leading research laboratories. The proposed TOMO PIV system is carefully designed to address these issues and provide new training opportunities for HQP. The proposal maximizes the utilization of existing equipment and uses additional funding provided from the applicants' grants and institution.