Transit-time estimation in turbulent flows

The transit-time estimation problem in a two-sensor arrangement for noncontact flow measurement is considered. In a two-phase flow, due to turbulent motion and flow profile, the transit times of individual particles between the two sensors are not identical. Based on a macroscopic description of the turbulent effects, a process model is developed. An estimator for the mean transit time, i.e. the mean velocity of the flow particles, is obtained from the process model by utilizing a two-step algorithm. Experimental results show the advantages of this developed estimator in comparison to a peak-detecting correlator based on the simple time-delay process model