Indirect measurement of near-surface velocity and pressure fields based on measurement of moving free surface profiles

A non-intrusive technique for measurement of the velocity and pressure fields adjacent to a moving fluid surface is developed. The technique is based on the measurement of fluid surface profile. The velocity and pressure fields are derived with use of the boundary element method (BEM) by seeking for an incompressible flow field that satisfies the kinematic boundary condition imposed by the time-dependent fluid surface profile. The proposed technique is tested by deriving the velocity and pressure fields inversely from the fluid surface profiles obtained by a forward BEM calculation of fluid surface response to externally-imposed pressure. The inverse calculation results show good agreement with the imposed pressure distribution in the forward calculation. (author)