Reconstruction of the Unsteady Supersonic Flow around a Spike Using the Colored Background Oriented Schlieren Technique

In this paper, the improved Background Oriented Schlieren technique called CBOS (Colored Background Oriented Schlieren) is described and used to reconstruct the density fields of three-dimensional flows. The Background Oriented Schlieren technique (BOS) allows the measurement of the light deflection caused by density gradients in a compressible flow. For this purpose the distortion of the image of a background pattern observed through the flow is used. In order to increase the performance of the conventional Background Oriented Schlieren technique, the monochromatic background is replaced by a colored dot pattern. The different colors are treated separately using suitable correlation algorithms. Therefore, the precision and the spatial resolution can be highly increased. Furthermore a special arrangement of the different colored dot patterns in the background allows astigmatism in the region with high density gradients to be overcome. For the first time an algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) is then used to reconstruct the density field of unsteady flows around a spike-tipped model from CBOS measurements. The obtained images reveal the interaction between the free-stream flow and the high-pressure region in front of the model, which leads to large-scale instabilities in the flow.