Abstract
Measurement of the free surface shape and its evolution in time and/or in space is of great interest in many engineering/research applications. The optical measurements of a liquid interface over an extended area can be very challenging for different reasons including the fluid properties, the seeding requirements, the optical access or the dimension of the interest area. In this review, the state of the art of non-intrusive field measurement techniques is presented. The principles and implementations of the different categories of methods will be described. Advantages, limitations and drawbacks of the different families of solutions will be addressed to help the experimentalists choosing the most appropriate methodology.
Graphical abstract
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdel-Aziz YI, Karara HM (1971) Direct linear transformation from comparator coordinates into object space coordinates in close-range photogrammetry. Proceedings of the symposium on close-range photogrammetry, pp 1–18
Aureli F, Dazzi S, Maranzoni A, Mignosa P (2014) A combined colour-infrared imaging technique for measuring water surface over non-horizontal bottom. Exp Fluids 55(3):17010
Aureli F, Maranzoni A, Mignosa P, Ziveri C (2011) An image processing technique for measuring free surface of dam-break flows. Exp Fluids 50(3):665–675
Balschbach G, Klinke J, Jähne B (1998) Multichannel shape from shading techniques for moving specular surfaces. European Conference on Computer Vision, 170–184
Bechle AJ, Wu CH (2010) Virtual wave gauges based upon stereo imaging for measuring surface wave characteristics. Coast Eng 58(4):305–316
Benetazzo A (2006) Measurements of short water waves using stereo matched image sequences. Coast Eng 53:1013–1032
Benetazzo A, Barbariol F, Bergamasco F, Torsello A, Carniel S, Sclavo M (2016) Stereo wave imaging from moving vessels: practical use and applications. Coast Eng 109:114–127
Blenkinsopp CE, Turner IL, Allis MJ, Peirson WL, Garden LE (2012) Application of LiDAR technology for measurement of time-varying free-surface profiles in a laboratory wave flume. Coast Eng 68:1–5
Brémand F (1994) A phase unwrapping technique for object relief determination. Opt Lasers Eng 21(1–2):49–60
Bung DB, Crookston BM, Valero D (2021) Turbulent free-surface monitoring with an RGB-D sensor: the hydraulic jump case. J Hydraul Res 59(5):779–790
Calluaud D, David L (2004) Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements of the flow around a surface-mounted block. Exp Fluids 36(1):53–61
Caplier C, Rousseaux G, Calluaud D, David L (2016) Energy distribution in shallow water ship wakes from a spectral analysis of the wave field. Phys Fluids 28(10):107104
Chandler J, Wackrow R, Sun X, Shiono K, Rameshwaran P (2008) Measuring a dynamic and flooding river surface by close range digital photogrammetry. International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 211–216
Charruault F, Greidanus A, Breugem W, Westerweel J (2018) A dot tracking algorithm to measure free surface deformations. In: proceedings 18th international symposium on flow visualization. ETH Zurich
Chatellier L, Jarny S, Gibouin F, David L (2013) A parametric PIV/DIC method for the measurement of free surface flows. Exp Fluids 54(3):1488
Cobelli PJ, Maurel A, Pagneux V, Petitjeans P (2009) Global measurement of water waves by Fourier transform profilometry. Exp Fluids 46:1037–1047
Cochard S, Ancey C (2008) Tracking the free surface of time-dependent flows: image processing for the dam-break problem. Exp Fluids 44:59–71
Combès B, Guibert A, Mémin E, Heitz D (2011) Free-surface flows from Kinect: feasibility and limits. Forum on developments in Volume Reconstruction techniques 2011
Combès B, Heitz D, Guibert A, Mémin E (2015) A particle filter to reconstruct a free-surface flow from a depth camera. Fluid Dyn Res 47:051404
Cox C (1958) Measurement of slopes of high-frequency wind waves. J Mar Res 16:199–230
Dabiri D, Gharib M (2001) Simultaneous free-surface deformation and near-surface velocity measurements. Exp Fluids 40(4):381–390
David L, Dupré J, Valle V, Robin E, Koudeir M, Brochard J, Jarny J, Calluaud D (2005) Comparison of three techniques to localize 3D surfaces and to measure their displacements. 6th international symposium on particle image velocimetry. Pasadena
De Vries S, Hill D, De Schipper M, Stive M (2009) Using stereo photogrammetry to measure coastal waves. J Coast Res, Special Issue No. 56. Proceedings of the 10th international coastal symposium ICS 2009, Vol II, 1484–1488
Douxchamps D, Devriendt D, Capart H, Craeye C, Macq B, Zech Y (2005) Stereoscopic and velocimetric reconstructions of the free surface topography of antidune flows. Exp Fluids 39:533–551
Duncan JH, Qiao H, Philomin V, Wenz A (1999) Gentle spilling breakers: crest profile evolution. J Fluid Mech 379:191–222
Eaket J, Hicks F, Peterson A (2005) Use of Stereoscopy for dam break flow measurement. J Hydraul Eng 131:24–29
Engelen L, Creëlle S, Schindfessel L, De Mulder T (2018) Spatio-temporal image-based parametric water surface reconstruction: a novel methodology based on refraction. Meas Sci Technol 29(3):035302
Euvé L-P, Michel F, Parentani R, Rousseaux G (2015) Wave blocking and partial transmission in subcritical flows over an obstacle. Phys Rev D 91(2):024020
Evers FM (2018) Videometric water surface tracking of spatial impulse wave propagation. J Vis 21(6):903–907
Ferreira E, Chandler J, Wackrow R, Shiono K (2017) Automated extraction of free surface topography using SfM-MVS photogrammetry. Flow Meas Instrum 54:243–249
Fleming A, Winship B, Macfarlane G (2018) Application of photogrammetry for spatial free surface elevation and velocity measurement in wave flumes. Proceedings of the institution of mechanical engineers, Part M: J Eng Marit Environ
Fouras A, Jacono DL, Sheard GJ, Hourigan K (2008) Measurement of instantaneous velocity and surface topography in the wake of a cylinder at low Reynolds number. J Fluids Struct 24:1271–1277
Fujita I, Muste M, Kruger A (1998) Large-scale particle image velocimetry for flow analysis in hydraulic engineering applications. J Hydraul Res 36(3):397–414
Fusiello A, Trucco E, Verri A (2000) A compact algorithm for rectification of stereo pairs. Mach Vis Appl 12(1):16–22
Garcia D, Orteu JJ, Devy M (2000) Accurate calibration of a stereovision sensor: comparison of different approaches. 5th fall workshop on vision, modeling and visualization 2000, 8
Gautier B, Valle V (2001) Mesure de reliefs en dynamique par moiré de projection couleur et analyse quasi-hétérodyne. Proceeding of Photomécacanique, Poitiers, 343–350
Gomit G, Chatellier L, Calluaud D, David L (2013) Free surface measurement by stereo-refraction. Exp Fluids 54(6):1540
Gomit G, Chatellier L, Calluaud D, David L, Fréchou D, Boucheron R, Perelman O, Hubert C (2015) Large-scale free surface measurement for the analysis of ship waves in a towing tank. Exp Fluids 56(10):184
Gomit G, Rousseaux G, Chatellier L, Calluaud D, David L (2014) Spectral analysis of ship waves in deep water from accurate measurements of the free surface elevation by optical methods. Phys Fluids 26(12):122101
Grant I, Stewart N, Padilla-Perez I (1990) Topographical measurements of water waves using the projection moire method. Appl Opt 29(28):3981–3983
Grant I, Zhao Y, Smith G, Stewart J (1995) Split-screen, single-camera, laser-matrix, stereogrammetry instrument for topographical water wave measurements. Appl Opt 34(9):3806–3809
Guimarães PV, Ardhuin F, Bergamasco F, Leckler F, Filipot JF, Shim JS, Dulov V, Benetazzo A (2020) A data set of sea surface stereo images to resolve space-time wave fields. Sci Data 7(1):1–12
Harker M, O’Leary P (2008) Least squares surface reconstruction from measured gradient fields. IEEE Conf Comput Vis Pattern Recognit 2008:1–7
Hartley R, Zisserman A (2004) Multiple view geometry in computer vision, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Hilsenstein V (2005) Surface reconstruction of water waves using thermographic stereo imaging. In: Ofotago DU (ed), Proceedings of image and vision computing New Zealand. New Zealand
Jähne B, Riemer KS (1990) Two-dimensional wave number spectra of small-scale water surface waves. J Geophys Res Oceans 95(C7):11531–11546
Jähne B, Klinke J, Waas S (1994) Imaging of short ocean wind waves: a critical theoretical review. J Opt Soc Am A 11(8):2197–2209
Jähne B, Schmidt M, Rocholz R (2005) Combined optical slope/height measurements of short wind waves: principle and calibration. Meas Sci Technol 16(10):1937
Jehle M, Jarny S, David L (2008) Mesure de surface libre par stéréo-corrélation. Congrès Francophone de Techniques Laser, CFTL 2008, Futuroscope, 16–19 septembre 2008
Keller W, Gotwols B (1983) Two-dimensional optical measurement of wave slope. Appl Opt 22(22):3476–3478
Kiefhaber D, Caulliez G, Zappa CJ, Schaper J, Jähne B (2015) Water wave measurement from stereo images of specular reflections. Meas Sci Technol 26(11):115401
Kiefhaber D, Reith S, Rocholz R, Jähne B (2014) High-speed imaging of short wind waves by shape from refraction. J Eur Opt Soc-Rapid Publ 9:14015
Kolaas J, Riise BH, Sveen K, Jensen A (2018) Bichromatic synthetic schlieren applied to surface wave measurements. Exp Fluids 59(8):128
Koskulics J, Englehardt S, Long S, Hu Y, Ottaviani M, Stamnes K (2013) Water surface topography retrieved from color images. J Atmos Ocean Technol 30(4):846–860
Kosnik MV, Dulov VA (2011) Extraction of short wind wave spectra from stereo images of the sea surface. Meas Sci Technol 22(1):015504
Kouyi GL, Vazquez J, Poulet J (2003) 3D free surface measurement and numerical modelling of flows in storm overflows. Flow Meas Instrum 14(3):79–87
Kurata J, Grattan K, Uchiyama H, Tanaka T (1990) Water surface measurement in a shallow channel using the transmitted image of a grating. Rev Sci Instrum 61(2):736–739
Lange P, Jähne B, Tschiersch J, Ilmberger I (1982) Comparison between an amplitude measuring wire and a slope measuring laser water wave gauge. Rev Sci Instrum 53(5):651–655
Lazaros N, Sirakoulis GC, Gasteratos A (2008) Review of stereo vision algorithms: from software to hardware. Int J Optomechatron 2(4):435–462
Li H, Avila M, Xu D (2021) A single-camera synthetic Schlieren method for the measurement of free liquid surfaces. Exp Fluids 62(11):1–15
Mandel TL, Rosenzweig I, Chung H, Ouellette NT, Koseff JR (2017) Characterizing free-surface expressions of flow instabilities by tracking submerged features. Exp Fluids 58(11):153
Meldi M, Poux A (2017) A reduced order model based on Kalman filtering for sequential data assimilation of turbulent flows. J Comput Phys 347:207–234
Mironov A, Yurovskaya MV, Dulov VA, Hauser D, Guérin C-A (2012) Statistical characterization of short wind waves from stereo images of the sea surface. J Geophys Res Oceans 117:C12
Moisy F, Rabaud M, Salsac K (2009) A synthetic Schlieren method for the measurement of the topography of a liquid interface. Exp Fluids 46(6):1021
Morimoto Y, Morimoto Y Jr, Hayashi T (1994) Separation of isochromatics and isoclinics using Fourier transform. Exp Tech 18(5):13–17
Morris NJ (2004) Image-based water surface reconstruction with refractive stereo. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto
Ng I, Kumar V, Sheard GJ, Hourigan K, Fouras A (2010) Experimental study of simultaneous measurement of velocity and surface topography: in the wake of a circular cylinder at low Reynolds number. Exp Fluids 50(3):587–595
Pirodda L (1982) Shadow and projection moiré techniques for absolute or relative mapping of surface shapes. Opt Eng 21(4):214640
Przadka A, Cabane B, Pagneux V, Maurel A, Petitjeans P (2012) Fourier transform profilometry for water waves: how to achieve clean water attenuation with diffusive reflection at the water surface? Exp Fluids 52(2):519–527
Robin E, Valle V, Brémand F (2005) Phase demodulation method from a single fringe pattern based on correlation with a polynomial form. Appl Opt 44(34):7261–7269
Rupnik E, Jansa J, Pfeifer N (2015) Sinusoidal wave estimation using photogrammetry and short video sequences. Sensors 15(12):30784–30809
Sanada Y, Toda Y, Hamachi S (2008) Free surface measurement by reflected light image. 25th international towing tank conference, Fukuoka, Japan, September, 814–820
Sanchis A, Jensen A (2011) Dynamic masking of PIV images using the Radon transform in free surface flows. Exp Fluids 51(4):871–880
Scarano F, Riethmuller ML (2000) Advances in iterative multigrid PIV image processing. Exp Fluids 29(1):S051–S060
Schroeder A, Leclaire B, Sciacchitano A (2020) 3rd Workshop and 1st Challenge on Data Assimilation & CFD Processing for PIV and Lagrangian Particle Tracking. http://cfdforpiv.dlr.de/
Soloff SM, Adrian RJ, Liu Z-C (1997) Distortion compensation for generalized stereoscopic particle image velocimetry. Meas Sci Technol 8(12):1441
Steinmann T, Casas J, Braud P, David L (2021) Coupled measurements of interface topography and three-dimensional velocity field of a free surface flow. Exp Fluids 62(1):1–16
Stewart R (1980) Ocean wave measurement techniques. In: Dobson F, Hasse L, Davis R (eds) Air-sea interaction. Springer, Boston, MA
Tanaka G, Okamoto K, Madarame H (2000) Experimental investigation on the interaction between polymer solution jet and free surface. Exp Fluids 29:178–183
Tauro F, Porfiri M, Grimaldi S (2013) Fluorescent eco-particles for surface flow physics analysis. AIP Adv 3(3):032108
Theocaris PS (1964) Isopachic patterns by the moiré method. Exp Mech 4(6):153–159
Tropea C, Yarin AL, Foss JF et al (2007) Springer handbook of experimental fluid mechanics, vol 1. Springer, Berlin
Tsai R (1987) A versatile camera calibration technique for high-accuracy 3D machine vision metrology using off-the-shelf TV cameras and lenses. IEEE J Robot Autom 3(4):323–344
Tsubaki R, Fujita I (2005) Stereoscopic measurement of a fluctuating free surface with discontinuities. Exp Fluids 16:1894–1902
Turney DE, Anderer A, Banerjee S (2009) A method for three-dimensional interfacial particle image velocimetry (3D-IPIV) of an air–water interface. Meas Sci Technol 20(4):045403
van Meerkerk M, Poelma C, Westerweel J (2020) Scanning stereo-PLIF method for free surface measurements in large 3D domains. Exp Fluids 61(1):1–16
Wanek JM, Wu CH (2006) Automated trinocular stereo imaging system for three-dimensional surface wave measurements. Ocean Eng 33:723–747
Weitbrecht V, Kühn G, Jirka G (2002) Large scale PIV-measurements at the surface of shallow water flows. Flow Meas Instrum 13(5):237–245
Wildeman S (2018) Real-time quantitative Schlieren imaging by fast Fourier demodulation of a checkered backdrop. Exp Fluids 59(6):1–13
Zappa CJ, Banner ML, Schultz H, Corrada-Emmanuel A, Wolff LB, Yalcin J (2008) Retrieval of short ocean wave slope using polarimetric imaging. Meas Sci Technol 19(5):055503
Zhang K, Zhang S, Rothmayer A, Hu H (2013) Development of a digital image projection technique to measure wind-driven water film flows. 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition
Zhang Q-C, Su X-Y (2002) An optical measurement of vortex shape at a free surface. Opt Laser Technol 34(2):107–113
Zhang X (1996) An algorithm for calculating water surface elevations from surface gradient image data. Exp Fluids 21(1):43–48
Zhang X, Cox CS (1994) Measuring the two-dimensional structure of a wavy water surface optically: a surface gradient detector. Exp Fluids 17(4):225–237
Zhang Z (2000) A flexible new technique for camera calibration. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 22(11):1330–1334
Acknowledgements
The developments and studies on free surface measurements at the Institut Pprime have been supported by the CPER NUMERIC program and the Direction Générale de l'Armement. The authors thank Damien Calluaud, Markus Jehle, and Patrick Braud for their scientific contributions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gomit, G., Chatellier, L. & David, L. Free-surface flow measurements by non-intrusive methods: a survey. Exp Fluids 63, 94 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-022-03450-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-022-03450-5