Resolving Airborne Particulate Concentration Inhomogeneities with a Schlieren Optical Technique

Our project explored the influence turbulence has on particulate clustering via use of the Schlieren Photographic technique. We successfully constructed the Schlieren optical set up, which consisted of a HeNe laser and a high speed CCD. We obtained data of turbulence of varying degrees affecting smoke particulates. The diffraction pattern in the data was clearly evident. We successfully denoised the images and calculated the 2D Fast Fourier Transform of the data. Analysis of the data has revealed interesting connections between turbulence and particle clustering.