scholarly journals Large Scale Infrared-Based Remote Sensing of Turbulence Metrics in Surface Waters: Going Beyond Mean Flow

Author(s):  
Seth Avram Schweitzer ◽  
Edwin Alfred Cowen

In recent years field-scale applications of image-based velocimetry methods, often referred to as large scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV), have been increasingly deployed. These velocimetry measurements have several advantages—they allow high resolution, non-contact measurement of surface velocity over a large two dimensional area, from which the bulk flow can be inferred. However, visiblelight LSPIV methods can have significant limitations. The water surface often lacks natural features that can be tracked in the visible and generally requires seeding with tracer particles, which creates concerns regarding the fidelity with which tracer particles track the flow, and introduces challenges in achieving sufficient and uniform seeding density, in particular in regions with appreciable velocity accelerations such as turbulence. In LSPIV, image collection is generally limited to daylight hours, and can suffer from non-uniformity of illumination across the camera’s field of view. Due to these issues LSPIV often requires spatio-temporal averaging, and as a result is generally able to extracting the mean, but not the instantaneous, velocity field, and hence is often not a suitable tool for calculating turbulence metrics of the flow.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvano Fortunato Dal Sasso ◽  
Alonso Pizarro ◽  
Sophie Pearce ◽  
Ian Maddock ◽  
Matthew T. Perks ◽  
...  

<p>Optical sensors coupled with image velocimetry techniques are becoming popular for river monitoring applications. In this context, new opportunities and challenges are growing for the research community aimed to: i) define standardized practices and methodologies; and ii) overcome some recognized uncertainty at the field scale. At this regard, the accuracy of image velocimetry techniques strongly depends on the occurrence and distribution of visible features on the water surface in consecutive frames. In a natural environment, the amount, spatial distribution and visibility of natural features on river surface are continuously challenging because of environmental factors and hydraulic conditions. The dimensionless seeding distribution index (SDI), recently introduced by Pizarro et al., 2020a,b and Dal Sasso et al., 2020, represents a metric based on seeding density and spatial distribution of tracers for identifying the best frame window (FW) during video footage. In this work, a methodology based on the SDI index was applied to different study cases with the Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) technique. Videos adopted are taken from the repository recently created by the COST Action Harmonious, which includes 13 case study across Europe and beyond for image velocimetry applications (Perks et al., 2020). The optimal frame window selection is based on two criteria: i) the maximization of the number of frames and ii) the minimization of SDI index. This methodology allowed an error reduction between 20 and 39% respect to the entire video configuration. This novel idea appears suitable for performing image velocimetry in natural settings where environmental and hydraulic conditions are extremely challenging and particularly useful for real-time observations from fixed river-gauged stations where an extended number of frames are usually recorded and analyzed.</p><p> </p><p><strong>References </strong></p><p>Dal Sasso S.F., Pizarro A., Manfreda S., Metrics for the Quantification of Seeding Characteristics to Enhance Image Velocimetry Performance in Rivers. Remote Sensing, 12, 1789 (doi: 10.3390/rs12111789), 2020.</p><p>Perks M. T., Dal Sasso S. F., Hauet A., Jamieson E., Le Coz J., Pearce S., …Manfreda S, Towards harmonisation of image velocimetry techniques for river surface velocity observations. Earth System Science Data, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1545-2020, 12(3), 1545 – 1559, 2020.</p><p>Pizarro A., Dal Sasso S.F., Manfreda S., Refining image-velocimetry performances for streamflow monitoring: Seeding metrics to errors minimisation, Hydrological Processes, (doi: 10.1002/hyp.13919), 1-9, 2020.</p><p>Pizarro A., Dal Sasso S.F., Perks M. and Manfreda S., Identifying the optimal spatial distribution of tracers for optical sensing of stream surface flow, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 24, 5173–5185, (10.5194/hess-24-5173-2020), 2020.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Cheng Liu ◽  
Wei-Che Huang

<p>In this research, we conducted LSPIV (Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry) measurements to measure river surface velocity based on images recorded by mobile phone. The realization of this research is based on the developments of two products. The first one is the digital camera, which has been combined with the mobile phone after several years of development. The second one is the three-axis accelerometer, which can measure the attitude of the object. A three-axis accelerometer is one of the necessary parts of the mobile phone nowadays, as many functions of the mobile phone, such as step counting, Do Not Disturb mode, games, require the detection of attitude.</p><p>In LSPIV, there are nine parameters of the collinear equation. Three of parameters are the coordinates of the perspective center in the image space (focus distance d and image center position (u, v)), which can be determined in advance in the laboratory; the other three parameters are the coordinates (x, y, z) of the perspective center in real space, which can be set to (0, 0, 0); the last three parameters are the attitude of the camera (i.e., the mobile phone), which is determined by the depression angle, the horizontal angle, and the left-right rotation angle and can be measured by three-axis accelerometer. Therefore, river surface velocity could be analyzed by LSPIV with not only continuous images captured by a camera of the mobile phone but also the acceleration values obtained by the three-axis accelerometer when each image was captured.</p><p>In the present study, Yufeng gauging station, which is in the upstream catchment of the Shihmen Reservoir in Taiwan, is selected as the study site. Two other measurement methods were used to measure the river surface velocity and the comparison was conducted. One is using a handheld digital flow meter and another is using LSPIV with control points to calculate the parameters for measuring the river surface velocity.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alonso Pizarro ◽  
Silvano F. Dal Sasso ◽  
Matthew Perks ◽  
Salvatore Manfreda

Abstract. River monitoring is of particular interest for our society that is facing increasing complexity in water management. Emerging technologies have contributed to opening new avenues for improving our monitoring capabilities, but also generating new challenges for the harmonised use of devices and algorithms. In this context, optical sensing techniques for stream surface flow velocities are strongly influenced by tracer characteristics such as seeding density and level of aggregation. Therefore, a requirement is the identification of how these properties affect the accuracy of such methods. To this aim, numerical simulations were performed to consider different levels of particle aggregation, particle colour (in terms of greyscale intensity), seeding density, and background noise. Two widely used image-velocimetry algorithms were adopted: i) Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV), and ii) Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV). A descriptor of the seeding characteristics (based on density and aggregation) was introduced based on a newly developed metric π. This value can be approximated and used in practice as π = ν0.1 / (ρ / ρcν1) where ν, ρ, and ρcν1 are the aggregation level, the seeding density, and the converging seeding density at ν = 1, respectively. A reduction of image-velocimetry errors was systematically observed by decreasing the values of π; and therefore, the optimal frame window was defined as the one that minimises π. In addition to numerical analyses, the Basento field case study (located in southern Italy) was considered as a proof-of-concept of the proposed framework. Field results corroborated numerical findings, and an error reduction of about 15.9 and 16.1 % was calculated – using PTV and PIV, respectively – by employing the optimal frame window.


Author(s):  
Wei-Che Huang ◽  
Chih-Chieh Young ◽  
Wen-Cheng Liu

An automated discharge imaging system (ADIS), a non-intrusive and safe approach, was developed for measuring river flows during flash flood events. ADIS consists of dual cameras to capture complete surface images in the near and far fields. Surface velocities are accurately measured using the Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) technique. The stream discharges are then obtained from the depth-averaged velocity (based upon an empirical velocity-index relationship) and cross-section area. The ADIS was deployed at the Yu-Feng gauging station in Shimen Reservoir upper catchment, northern Taiwan. For a rigorous validation, surface velocity measurements were conducted using ADIS/LSPIV and other instruments. In terms of the averaged surface velocity, all measured results were in good agreement with small differences, i.e., 0.004 to 0.39 m/s and 0.023 to 0.345 m/s when compared to those from acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and surface velocity radar (SVR), respectively. The ADIS/LSPIV was further applied to measure surface velocities and discharges during typhoon events (i.e., Chan-Hom, Soudelor, Goni, and Dujuan) in 2015. The measured water level and surface velocity both showed rapid increases due to flash floods. The estimated discharges from ADIS/LSPIV and ADCP were compared, presenting good consistency with correlation coefficient R = 0.996 and normalized root mean square error NRMSE = 7.96%. The results of sensitivity analysis indicate that components till (τ) and roll (θ) of the camera are most sensitive parameter to affect the surface velocity using ADIS/LSPIV. Overall, the ADIS based upon LSPIV technique effectively measures surface velocities for reliable estimations of river discharges during typhoon events.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 06001
Author(s):  
Ichiro Fujita ◽  
Yuichi Notoya ◽  
Takanori Furuta

The heavy rain disaster in the Kinugawa River basin that occurred along with the passage of the Typhoon 18 caused the embankment destruction in the middle reach of the river on September 10, 2015. Due to the overflow, the houses in the vicinity of the embankment collapsed, causing a flood inundation spreading over a wide area. Because the embankment breakwater occurred during the daytime, the state of the inundating flow was recorded from various angles by media helicopters or drones. In this study, we developed a method to extract quantitative flow information from a helicopter video image in which the shooting position and angles are changed one after another, because it was taken in emergency. In the analysis, the images were orthorectified after stabilizing the images, from which surface velocity distributions were measured by image-based technique such as the large-scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV) or the space-time image velocimetry (STIV). As a result, the time change of water entering from the broken embankment and the total inundated water volume during the disaster were estimated. In addition, two-dimensional surface velocity distributions were analysed to show the spreading of inundated flow.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua I. Theule ◽  
Stefano Crema ◽  
Lorenzo Marchi ◽  
Marco Cavalli ◽  
Francesco Comiti

Abstract. The assessment of flow velocity has a central role in quantitative analysis of debris flows, both for the characterization of the phenomenology of these processes, and for the assessment of related hazards. Large scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV) can contribute to the assessment of surface velocity of debris flows, provided that the specific features of these processes (e.g. fast stage variations and particles up to boulder size on the flow surface) are taken into account. Three debris flow events, each of them consisting of several surges featuring different sediment concentration, flow stage and velocity, have been analyzed at the inlet of a sediment trap in a stream of the eastern Italian Alps (Gadria Creek). Free softwares have been employed for preliminary treatment (ortho-rectification and format conversion) of video-recorded images as well as for LSPIV application. Results show that LSPIV velocities are consistent with manual measurements on the ortho-rectified imagery and with front velocity measured from the hydrographs in a channel reach approximately 70 m upstream of the sediment trap. Horizontal turbulence, computed as the standard deviation of the flow directions at a given cross-section for a given surge, proved to be correlated with surface velocity and with visually estimated sediment concentration. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of LSPIV in the assessment of surface velocity of debris flows, and permit to identify the most crucial aspects for improving the accuracy of debris flows velocity measurements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Pearce ◽  
Robert Ljubičić ◽  
Salvador Peña-Haro ◽  
Matthew Perks ◽  
Flavia Tauro ◽  
...  

Image velocimetry has proven to be a promising technique for monitoring river flows using remotely operated platforms such as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). However, the application of various image velocimetry algorithms has not been extensively assessed. Therefore, a sensitivity analysis has been conducted on five different image velocimetry algorithms including Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV), Large-Scale Particle Tracking Velocimetry (LSPTV), Kanade–Lucas Tomasi Image Velocimetry (KLT-IV or KLT), Optical Tracking Velocimetry (OTV) and Surface Structure Image Velocimetry (SSIV), during low river flow conditions (average surface velocities of 0.12–0.14 m s − 1 , Q60) on the River Kolubara, Central Serbia. A DJI Phantom 4 Pro UAS was used to collect two 30-second videos of the surface flow. Artificial seeding material was distributed homogeneously across the rivers surface, to enhance the conditions for image velocimetry techniques. The sensitivity analysis was performed on comparable parameters between the different algorithms, including the particle identification area parameters (such as Interrogation Area (LSPIV, LSPTV and SSIV), Block Size (KLT-IV) and Trajectory Length (OTV)) and the feature extraction rate. Results highlighted that KLT and SSIV were sensitive to changing the feature extraction rate; however, changing the particle identification area did not affect the surface velocity results significantly. OTV and LSPTV, on the other hand, highlighted that changing the particle identification area presented higher variability in the results, while changing the feature extraction rate did not affect the surface velocity outputs. LSPIV proved to be sensitive to changing both the feature extraction rate and the particle identification area. This analysis has led to the conclusions that for surface velocities of approximately 0.12 m s − 1 image velocimetry techniques can provide results comparable to traditional techniques such as ADCPs. However, LSPIV, LSPTV and OTV require additional effort for calibration and selecting the appropriate parameters when compared to KLT-IV and SSIV. Despite the varying levels of sensitivity of each algorithm to changing parameters, all configuration image velocimetry algorithms provided results that were within 0.05 m s − 1 of the ADCP measurements, on average.


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