Qualitative and quantitative schlieren optical measurement of the human thermal plume.

A new large-field, high-sensitivity, single-mirror coincident schlieren optical instrument has been installed at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar for the purpose of indoor air research. Its performance is assessed by the non-intrusive measurement of the thermal plume of a heated manikin. The schlieren system produces excellent qualitative images of the manikin's thermal plume and also quantitative data, especially schlieren velocimetry of the plume's velocity field that is derived from the digital cross-correlation analysis of a large time sequence of schlieren images. The quantitative results are compared with thermistor and hot-wire anemometer data obtained at discrete points in the plume. Good agreement is obtained, once the differences between path-averaged schlieren data and planar anemometry data are reconciled.