A PIV analysis around a thermal breathing manikin

We present a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) database on a benchmark test case involving a thermal manikin exposed to a displacement ventilation and a separate breathing only experiment. This database can be used for calibration/validation of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and unsteady RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) techniques for prediction of such biological/environmental flows. Since this is also a multipoint database, we can utilize it for application of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) based low dimensional tools. This is particularly useful in regions of the flow where there are steep gradients. By picking out the energy containing structures of the exhaled and inhaled air of a breathing manikin via the POD, we can observe such structures in this flow as we progress along the breathing waveform. With only a few POD modes we are able to capture the essential structure of the flow field through the breathing cycle. This is important as we try to understand and ultimately control such environments. There are multiple benefits to this research, including CFD validation in the case of the standing manikin, and characterization of the unsteady behavior in the complex flow of the breathing zone using low dimensional tools. While not presented here, this dataset is also being used for a multi-window analysis in order to compare the different spatial scales of the flow.