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A new method for fluid–structure interaction (FSI) diagnostics to simultaneously capture time-resolved three-dimensional, three-component (3D3C) velocity fields and structural deformations using a single light field camera is presented. A light field camera encodes both spatial and angular information of light rays collected by a conventional imaging lens that allows for the 3D reconstruction of a scene from a single image. Building upon this capability, a light field fluid–structure interaction (LF FSI) methodology is developed with a focus on experimental scenarios with low optical access. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is used to separate particle and surface information contained in the same image. A correlation-based depth estimation technique is introduced to reconstruct instantaneous surface positions from the disparity between angular perspectives and conventional particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used for flow field reconstruction. Validation of the methodology is achieved using synthetic images of simultaneously moving flat plates and a vortex ring with a small increase in uncertainty under ~0.5 microlenses observed in both flow and structure measurement compared to independent measurements. The method is experimentally verified using a flat plate translating along the camera’s optical axis in a flow field with varying particle concentrations. Finally, simultaneous reconstructions of the flow field and surface shape around a flexible membrane are presented, with the surface reconstruction further validated using simultaneously captured stereo images. The findings indicate that the LF FSI methodology provides a new capability to simultaneously measure large-scale flow characteristics and structural deformations using a single camera. 

This paper presents a comparison of several correlation-based methodologies for depth estimation using a single plenoptic camera. The plenoptic camera offers a distinct advantage by enabling the generation of many perspectives over a relatively small baseline. Unlike stereo reconstruction, which relies on a pair of images for depth estimation, these multiple perspectives are utilized collectively in two distinct approaches for depth estimation. The proposed methods are evaluated using synthetic and experimental data to assess their accuracy. Preliminary results indicate the robust performance of both methods, each exhibiting different strengths under varying conditions. Future work will assess how these methods perform in the context of a simultaneous DIC and 3D PIV measurement using a single plenoptic camera. 

This paper investigates the effect of smoothing operation in 3D reconstruction using a plenoptic camera. A plenoptic camera - also known as light field camera - features a commercial off the shelf camera with added microlens array (MLA) behind the imaging lens, directly in front of the sensor. The main lens focuses the light to the MLA plane, where each microlens then re-directs the light to small regions of pixels behind, each pixel corresponding to different angle of incident (T. Fahringer (2015)) (Adelson and Wang (1992)). Thus, MLA encodes angular information of incident light rays into the recorded image that assist to acquire 4D information (u,v,s,t) of light-field including both position and angular information of light rays captured by the camera (Ng et al. (2005)) (Adelson and Wang (1992)).