An Acoustic Inversion-Based Flow Measurement Model in 3D Hydrodynamic Systems
Jiwei Li, Lingyun Qiu, Zhongjing Wang, Hui Yu
TL;DR
The paper addresses non-contact flow measurement in three-dimensional hydrodynamic systems by extending the Acoustic Inversion-based Flow Measurement (AIFM) framework to 3D, explicitly modeling boundary reflections and sidelobe effects. It reconstructs particle distributions via an inverse source problem with multiple emitted waves and then computes the velocity field from those distributions using a GPU-accelerated 3D Farnebäck optical-flow method, enabling full 3D velocity estimation from a single wave-field observation. Extensive numerical experiments assess particle-detection robustness across wave-directions, receiver layouts, and particle densities, and evaluate velocity-field reconstruction in constant, Taylor-Green vortex, and T-junction flows, demonstrating accurate performance under diverse conditions. The work presents a viable, non-contact alternative to ADCPs and PIV for hazardous or large-scale water-resource monitoring, with clear guidance on data-collection configurations and promising directions for real-field validation and computational scalability.
Abstract
This study extends the flow measurement method initially proposed in [22] to three-dimensional scenarios, addressing the growing need for accurate and efficient non-contact flow measurement techniques in complex hydrodynamic environments. Compared to conventional Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) and remote sensing-based flow monitoring, the proposed method enables high-resolution, continuous water velocity measurement, making it well-suited for hazardous environments such as floods, strong currents, and sediment-laden rivers. Building upon the original approach, we develop an enhanced model that incorporates multiple emission directions and flexible configurations of receivers. These advancements improve the adaptability and accuracy of the method when applied to three-dimensional flow fields. To evaluate its feasibility, we conducted extensive numerical simulations designed to mimic real-world hydrodynamic conditions. The results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively handles diverse and complex flow field configurations, highlighting its potential for practical applications in water resource management and hydraulic engineering.