Summer Research: Stardate 6/3/2014

   You should know that summer research is an undergraduate practice in which the student is submersed in one narrowly focused project. Before coming down for the summer, our physics department has a practice of engaging the student in a half unit class that prepares the student for the main course. For the past month, I have been working on readings and learning Matlab. Our group witnessed the group working with turbulence struggling with the programming they needed to read files and perform an analysis of their results from yesterday's data collection. We observed the process of data collection and rendering the images.

  The images are collected using a PIV system which consists of a laser and camera which is attached to the computer. Granted, this description is quite oversimplified and I will explain a little more about the system towards the weekend. PIV, for now, is another way of talking about particle velocimetry which uses seed particles to track the movement of the flow of the fluid in a test area. The image below is from the US Department of Transportation's Hydraulics Engineering Department and is similar, with a few modifications. 

  These modifications entail using a stir plate, a magnetic stir bar, and a beaker of water in place of the culvert set up above. 

   The next two images are what the seed particles look like in a flow of water and the next image is the vector field obtained from the images. This is to give you an example of what I will be seeing. These images are from the University of Wisconsin's Engineering Department. 

The Scientific Process

Step 1: Ask a question that needs to be answered

  The first question we have, based on the readings, is can we use Particle Velocimetry techniques to study the behavior of oyster larvae when they experience turbulence? Will our system work with a green laser compared to an IR laser?

Step 2: Design the experiment

  Wait... what?!?! I thought you were supposed to form a hypothesis? In this case, we have to test to see if we can build a workable solution that allows us to answer the question. We have also had several issues to consider. The first, and most important issue, was to move as little of the equipment as possible. We did not want to move the massive tank of water from the turbulence experiment or the laser. So my partner and I built a shelf today that can hold our set up. The only thing we will have to move is the CCD camera between the two experiments. Which means that we will have to calibrate the camera before every day we collect data. 

  The idea is to obtain data about the system and the type of turbulence it produces before tossing in the larvae. It's our control, our base reading. We have taken extra parts and piece and built a shelf to hold the equipment. Tomorrow we set it up to see if we need to make adjustments. We're hoping that we can begin testing it by Thursday and Friday. 

Tomorrow is training day! We have a training on power tools and hand tools, training on using lasers, and hazardous communication training. Phew! I won't bore you with that training!