PIV uncertainty quantification from correlation statistics

The uncertainty of a PIV displacement field is estimated using a generic post-processing method based on statistical analysis of the correlation process using differences in the intensity pattern in the two images. First the second image is dewarped back onto the first one using the computed displacement field which provides two almost perfectly matching images. Differences are analyzed regarding the effect of shifting the peak of the correlation function. A relationship is derived between the standard deviation of intensity differences in each interrogation window and the expected asymmetry of the correlation peak, which is then converted to the uncertainty of a displacement vector. This procedure is tested with synthetic data for various types of noise and experimental conditions (pixel noise, out-of-plane motion, seeding density, particle image size, etc) and is shown to provide an accurate estimate of the true error.