Experiments in Fluids 33 (2002) 181–187
DOI 10.1007/s00348-002-0450-7
Computerized background-oriented schlieren
G.E.A. Meier
Abstract A schlieren measurement technique based on
computer evaluation of image variations due to refractive
index variations in the propagation medium is presented;
in what follows, this concept is referred to as the ‘‘back-
ground-oriented schlieren’’ (BOS) method. The differences
between BOS and other optical techniques for refractive
index measurement are the governing role of numerical
methods, the extremely small amount of optical equip-
ment, the high accuracy, the bidirectional sensitivity, the
fast evaluation, and the missing field limitations. The
principle of the method is the numerical comparison of a
schlieren distorted and an undistorted image of a delib-
erate background. The method has become usable in
practice owing to the immense progress in computing
power and to newly developed fast-correlation algorithms.
The extension of this method to space resolving tech-
niques is possible. Some experimental studies show the
applicability. Examples are a mixing turbulent jet, a su-
personic jet, a shed vortex, and the sound wave of a gun
shot. These few results underline the encouraging prospect
for the future applicability of this technique. The BOS
method offers not only the possibility of qualitative and
quantitative schlieren investigations but also has the
potential to determine density fields by integration of
the measured gradient fields.
1 of the image. But as the image of an object is mostly a
Introduction
The usual schlieren system, as first described by Toepler function, the deconvolution will describe the transfer
(1864) and later, for instance, in the works of Schardin
(1934), Merzkirch (1987) and Settles (2001), needs an
elaborate optical setup. It most often uses special light
sources such as discharge lamps or lasers, large field de- process of imaging and deconvolution.
fining collimating lenses or mirrors and knifes, filters or
stops for visualization of the deflection of the illuminating image a deliberate object of sufficient texture through the
light beam by the schlieren. Since all the errors of the
imaging setup are also visualized in this way, extremely
well-made optical components are required.
Received: 25 January 2002 / Accepted: 15 March 2002
Published online: 5 June 2002

Springer-Verlag 2002
G.E.A. Meier
DLR-Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology,
Bunsenstr. 10, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
E-mail: g.e.a.meier@dlr.de
Tel.: +49-551-7092178
Fax: +49-551-7092889
181
Attempts to partially alleviate these problems are the
more recently developed speckle methods, which analyze
the displacement of laser-generated speckle pattern by
schlieren (Köpf 1972; Wernekinck and Merzkirch 1987).
Background-oriented schlieren (BOS) and background-
oriented optical tomography (BOOT) were introduced
(Meier 1999) as a further simplification of the optical
schlieren system and a shift to increased use of numerical
image treatment. Finally, only one camera and some
structured image background remain on the optical side.
Although the influence of the propagation medium on
imaging is well known, there has rarely been a serious
attempt to utilize it for schlieren measurement. The un-
derlying unsolvable problem has been the measurement of
the small image distortions. In the background-oriented
methods described, the real effort of schlieren detection is
transferred to the computer, which does the actual work of
precise image correlation. BOS and BOOT use the distor-
tion of imaging of deliberate ‘‘backgrounds’’ by the light
deflection of density gradients or otherwise light scattering
deflectors to get information about these deflectors.
The usual imaging of landscapes and other objects as-
sumes no interaction with the medium between the object
and the imaging device. If there is any interaction, for
instance in the case of a ‘‘Fata Morgana’’ or the flickering
of stars in the night sky, this is referred to as a ‘‘distortion’’
convolution of the object function and the transfer channel
channel if the object and the image are given. This pro-
cedure provides detailed information about the deflector
in the transfer channel depending on the effort in the
In a simple realization of BOS, a camera is used to
deflector (phase object) of interest. In order to perform the
deconvolution, the undistorted image has to be taken as an
additional recording or be provided by different means.
Then, by the process of deconvolution, a two-dimensional
integral deflection map of the phase object is obtained,
which is very similar to a bidirectional schlieren picture if
the magnitude of the deflection is plotted. But since in-
formation about the direction of the light deflection exists
in addition, an arrow field (vector matrix) can be used for
the visualization of density gradients by magnitude and
direction.
In a more elaborate realization of the method, BOOT
uses different imaging channels to allow for a complete
three-dimensional reconstruction of the phase object in
 the transfer channel. Since this type of reconstruction is interferometry, is its extremely modest technical require-
used also in other tomographic techniques, the usual ra- ments, usually only one (electronic) camera, a sufficiently
don transform techniques and algorithms can be applied structured background and a PC. The reason this
in moderate modification. technique has not been applied up to the present time is
probably related to the requirement of fast, accurate
deconvolution algorithms, which have only recently
2
become available for PCs.
Description of the BOS method
Other advantages are its unlimited field of view and,
BOS uses in principle the distorted imaging of deliberate
consequently, its unlimited size of monitored objects.
background objects behind the schlieren. The distortions
Because of the typically conical viewing field of the camera
in imaging are caused by the light deflection in density
used, the size of any phase object can be matched by
182 gradients or by other light-scattering deflectors. In this
distance and focal length. In contrast, the conical shape of
manner, information about these deflectors is recorded.
the projection and the different sensitivity for the spatially
To perform such a BOS visualization of schlieren, typically
distributed schlieren necessitate certain correction and
two pictures of a deliberate background with sufficient
calibration procedures. A certain difficulty is also the need
optical contrast and structure are taken. One of these
to focus the background and the schlieren at once. This
pictures may have an undisturbed transfer channel. The
can be achieved by a small aperture and short distance
other one includes the phase object of interest (schlieren)
between background and schlieren. The use of telecentric
in the transfer channel in the imaging process. In this way,
beams for this purpose is prohibited by the requirement of
two comparable pictures exist, the ‘‘difference’’ between
huge lenses or mirrors in most applications. The optimal
which gives information about the phase object. These
sensitivity and resolution of the device set is achieved if
differences are mainly shifts of image details which are
the background structure has a texture close to the camera
proportional to the light deflection by the field gradients in
resolution.
the transfer channel in the related direction of the imaging
In a simple realization, a photographic camera is used
beam.
to image a deliberate object of sufficient texture through
The interaction with the medium between the back-
the deflector (phase object) of interest. Typically, a
ground and the imaging device can be described as a de-
random dot pattern is used in test setups. Otherwise,
flection of the light as above. But in a more general way,
especially for field measurement, a wood, a meadow, a
image I of an object is a convolution of the background or
pavement or any other available texture at an appropriate
object function B and the transfer channel function T:
distance can be used. The typical situation with the
I¼BT relevant dimensions is shown in Fig. 1.
In Fig. 1, the typical optical ray pass through a phase
To explore the nature of the transfer channel, a deconvo- object is compared with the undistorted imaging ray. The
lution seems the appropriate tool. The deconvolution will background position is marked by B, the schlieren posi-
describe the transfer channel if the object and the image tion is at S, the camera lens is located at L, and the image
are given. For this purpose, usually several images of the plane is at I. One undistorted imaging ray (solid line) is
background with different properties of the transfer marked by R1 and another deflected ray (dashed line) is
channel are used. The most convenient situation is given named R2.
in the case of a comparison of a background with no From the distances and the focal length of the imaging
distortion with one which has the distorted transfer lens, the shift in image details can be related to the local
channel. This procedure provides reasonably detailed density gradients in the phase object, which is a vortex or
information on the deflector in the transfer channel, eddy in this case. For small angles of deflection, the angle b
depending on the accuracy in the process of deconvolution becomes:
and imaging. By the process of deconvolution a two-di-
mensional integral deflection map of the phase object is ta ¼ d0 =a
achieved, which is very similar to a bidirectional schlieren
picture.
In order to perform the deconvolution, the undis-
turbed image has to be taken as an additional recording,
or the undisturbed image is obtained by other means. If
the information about the undisturbed background object
is not easily available, e.g. in the case of a landscape or
the stars, one can also use a number of consecutive
frames to obtain information about the changes in the
transfer channel with time. For the case of continuous
imaging in a suitable time interval, an average back-
ground object can often be constructed by averaging over
a larger number of frames. Fig. 1. The typical optical ray pass through a phase object (dashed
line R2) is compared with the undistorted imaging ray. The
The principal advantage of this technique, in compar- background position is marked by B, the schlieren position is at S, the
ison with other density-recording optical techniques, such camera lens is located at L, and the image plane is at I. One
as shadowgraph, usual schlieren, speckle techniques and undistorted imaging ray (solid line) is marked by R1
where d¢ is the virtual deflection, and a is the distance 2.2
between the background and the phase object. Since by The BOOT method
geometrical reasons the virtual displacement d¢ is related In a more elaborate realization of the method, a large
to the image displacement d by the lens distance from the number of different imaging channels are used to allow for
background g and the image distance from the lens b, a complete three-dimensional reconstruction of the phase
which can be replaced for large g by the focal length of the object in the common transfer channel. Here, the restric-
lens f, the following relations hold: tion of identification of certain phase structures for the
0 evaluation of spatial distribution of the schlieren is made
d =g ¼ d=b ¼ d=f redundant. In the case of stationary phase objects, the
images under different viewing angles can be taken in a
These simple relations give a formula for the angle of
consecutive sequence with a single camera. Since this type 183
deflection b, the gradient of the refraction index grad n,
of reconstruction is also used in other tomographic
and the gradient of the material density grad m immedi-
techniques, the usual radon transform algorithms can be
ately, if one can assume their proportionality in the usual
applied in moderate modification. This technique is still
way:
under investigation.
b  grad n  grad m ¼ const dg=ab ¼ const dg=af
3
This shows the simple dependence of the deflection and Areas of possible application
the gradients of index of refraction and hence gradient of The main field of application of BOS is clearly the inves-
density from the measured shift d of details in the image. tigation of flows encompassing large scales, access to
For a given distortion grad m, the shift d and hence the which has been limited up to the present time. In aero-
sensitivity (d/grad m) becomes larger with increasing dynamics, most of the flows of current interest are com-
distance a of the background from the schlieren object. pressible in nature, so density gradients occur which
Sensitivity is defined as: deflect transmitted light. A method which makes these
d=grad m  afg density gradients visible with a simple experimental ar-
rangement is highly desirable. BOS needs only a suitable
Increased focal length f is compensated by growing background and a photographic or, better, electronic
distance g of the camera from the background, if the camera together with an evaluation computer to solve the
image field is kept constant. In order to evaluate the following measurement problems.
displacements d of image details, elaborate correlation All compressible and heated jets from supersonic
techniques must be applied to the images to be com- nozzles in the laboratory or from running engines in air-
pared. But by mathematical simplifications and the fields provide strong light-deflecting capability which can
current powerful computers, the evaluation time can be be used to determine their structure. The method is ap-
kept within the order of seconds. Here especially, the plicable to exploring the internal structure of the jets from
substitution of the cross-correlation by fast Fourier turbo machinery nozzles, aircraft jet engines and rocket
transforms (FFTs) has had a great impact. The codes nozzles. A special application is the recording and mea-
applied presently make special use of matrix operations, surement of aircraft wakes and vortices in airports, where
because the images are given as an intensity matrix this information must be provided on a continuous basis.
from the camera chip. The result of the evaluation is a In the case of self-illuminating jets, the use of filters may
vector matrix, the resolution of which depends on the be needed.
size and shift in the correlation spots. From the gradient In wind tunnels of very large dimensions, the problem
matrix by line integration or by solving a Poisson of field size limitation of the usual optical techniques exists
equation, the density field of the schlieren object can be for several reasons. As an example, limited access to the
obtained. field by small windows or the very large dimensions of the
model and the flow field are mentioned. Since BOS has
2.1 practically no field size limit, it is especially useful in both
The background-oriented stereoscopic schlieren cases. Also, the divergent recording beam is often useful in
method (BOSS) the case of small tunnel windows.
A useful extension of the simple schlieren technique is the In field tests of helicopters where the rotor flow has to
recording of two image pairs of the phase object of interest be measured or noise tests with rotors must be made, BOS
under a different viewing angle. This is usually done by can provide valuable data even about the strength and
two cameras which are synchronized in the case of un- location of the tip vortices. In flight experiments, the
steady schlieren objects. In this way, the evaluation of the recording of density fields on aircraft structures and in
location in space of identifiable phase objects in the the wake appears to become possible.
common part of the transfer channel becomes possible by Combustion and heaters produce large density gradi-
a stereo comparator or suitable computer programs. ents and are thus an ideal measurement object for BOS and
So the position of vortices in a flow field or heat eddies BOOT, since the measurement range is only limited by
in a combustion chamber can be explored. In the case of blackout of the background image. Information about heat
unidentifiable schlieren objects, a tomographic method transfer and combustion parameters is easily available.
can be used. In the case of self-luminous objects such as flames, the
 application of filters which cancel the radiated light can be
helpful.
An especially ambitious application is the instrumen-
tation of airborne vehicles for the purpose of turbulence
and wake detection. Here, the visible environment is the
background for the detection of distortions in the atmo-
sphere. The reference image can be often achieved only by
averaging a large number of the distorted images if they
randomly change with time. Another approach is the
correlation of two images taken from different viewing
positions.
184
The previous application has a useful side effect which
may also be of interest in other applications. Because the
background is always the reference for BOS, the method
also records all changes in the background itself. This
means that in the case of vehicle use, all moving objects
such as other vehicles or moving stars and clouds are also
recorded and can be measured with respect to speed and
direction of motion simultaneously. This illustrates the
vicinity of BOS to the well-known method of white light
speckle (Sirohi 1993) used for deformation measurement.
Here also, the application of the modern fast numerical
correlation techniques is expected to have a great impact.
many laboratory and field experiments (Richard et al.
2000). The different types of experiments performed
illustrate the potential of the method and have provided
valuable contributions to existing or planned projects:
mixing and vorticity distribution in a heated jet; shock
wave studies for unsteady transonic flow in a wind tunnel;
and flight measurements of tip vortex stability with a real
helicopter.
Here therefore, only some recently performed experi-
mental applications and numerical evaluation procedures
are presented. Experiments with a small supersonic jet,
with gas concentration measurement, with vortex shed-
ding of a cylinder and with recording of a sound wave are
shown. These examples illustrate the following properties
of BOS:
1. the accuracy and resolution of the method
2. the easy installation of background, camera and
recording arrangement
3. the power of existing evaluation algorithms.

4
Technical requirements and realized
applications of BOS
The existing evaluation techniques for particle image ve-
locimetry (PIV) have been particularly helpful during the
early stages of our experiments with BOS. In the PIV
method, the motion of small seeding particles is evaluated
from a single frame recorded with double exposure or
from two frames recorded in a suitable time interval. This
evaluation problem is very similar to the problem of the
measurement of small shifts of image details for the BOS
method. Consequently, most of the existing PIV evaluation
programs can be used for BOS after small adaptations.
Since the displacement of image details in BOS is often
much smaller than the motion of PIV particles, a
development for higher sensitivity is under way.
For optimal results with BOS, the resolution of the
camera and the texture of the background should be
properly matched. Accurate evaluation and a good result
are achieved if the texture of the background used is im-
aged in the chosen setup just in the order of the camera
resolution. Ultimately, the achievable resolution of the
method is defined by that of the camera. In view of the
existing restriction in the resolution by the requirement to
image together the schlieren and the background sharply,
for many applications a common laboratory camera with a
resolution of 800·600 pixels is adequate. The aforemen-
tioned problem with sharp imaging of background and
schlieren can be solved by a small camera aperture and the
smallest possible distance of the background from the
schlieren locus. The latter measure will be limited by the
loss of sensitivity, but the adjustment of the sensitivity by
changing only the distance of the background is a very Fig. 2. Supersonic jet from a rectangular nozzle (experiment by
convenient property of BOS. M. Rein, DLR). The top image is a real schlieren picture (taken with a
horizontal knife) of the supersonic jet. The middle frame shows in
As Sect. 3 outlines, there are numerous possible ap- comparison the BOS density gradient field of the same jet. The lower
plications for BOS techniques. The concept and the pre- image is the resulting density field calculated by integrating the
sent ideas on the method have already been verified in Poisson equation
 The main achievements of the present state of the art nozzle 1.5 mm·275 mm in cross section. The investigation
became possible through the use of the existing new digital provides the distribution of the helium in the plume,
cameras and newly developed fast-evaluation algorithms. which is interesting for some chemical considerations. But
The results show: simultaneously, this is also a method for measuring tur-
bulent mixing, because the entrainment of ambient air by
1. the efficiency of FFT-based reconstruction algorithms
turbulence is one of the main reasons for the changes in
2. the visualization of the evaluated data with arrow fields
concentration.
and false color representation
3. the field integration of the gradient field for density
representation. 4.3
Wake and vortex measurement in a wind tunnel
The wake of a cylinder was investigated simultaneously 185
4.1 by BOS and PIV in a small transonic wind tunnel. This
Supersonic jet of air shows on the one hand the compatibility of the optical
The first example shows a supersonic jet emanating from a setup and provides on the other hand full information
rectangular nozzle 3 mm·20 mm in cross section (Fig. 2). about the flow properties in density and velocity. The
A comparison between a regular schlieren image and the cylinder had a diameter of 30 mm and the length was
arrow field of displacements by BOS of the jet underlines 100 mm. The tunnel was operated at a Mach number of
the principal difference between the two methods but also 0.35 (Fig. 4).
the similarity in the final result. The accuracy of the vector
field representation becomes obvious from the third 4.4
image, which gives the density field by integration of a Record of a sound wave from a gun shot
Poisson equation. Schlieren methods have a long successful history in bal-
listics and gun experiments. Consequently, it has been a
4.2 challenge to explore the ability of the BOS technique in
Concentration measurement for gas mixtures measuring the wave propagation from guns or explosions.
The second test case (Fig. 3) refers to a laboratory mea- This is technically especially interesting because of the
surement of gas concentration in a free jet from a rect- unlimited field (Weinstein 1998) of the method. Huge
angular nozzle (Klinge 2001). Helium in an amount of 5% plumes and waves can be investigated. In combination
was premixed with air in the low-speed outflow from the with a modern digital high-speed camera, even a special

Fig. 3. Concentration measure-

ment in a gas plume (experiment
at VKI by F. Klinge, DLR). The
upper part shows the sketch of
the simple BOS setup with the
background 1, the nozzle 2 and
the camera 3. The lower part on
the left-hand side shows the
original BOS vector gradient
field, and on the right-hand side
the evaluation of helium
concentration in the plume
186

Fig. 4. Simultaneous use of PIV

and BOS (experiment by F.
Klinge and H. Richard at DLR
VAG wind tunnel). The upper
part of the figure shows the
experimental setup, with a
sketch of the wind tunnel and
the optical elements for PIV and
BOS. The lower part shows on
the left-hand side the BOS (top)
and the PIV arrow field (bot-
tom). The right-hand side is a
combination of the two vector
fields for velocity and density
gradient and gives a quantitative
description of the vortex which
is shed from the cylinder

spark illumination is not needed in most cases. Figure 5

shows the hot gas cloud and the leading sound wave of a
hand gun shot (no bullet involved).

5
Summary
Three different types of BOS methods are proposed in this
paper. The first is background-oriented schlieren, which is
a simple schlieren technique based on a computer
evaluation of the detailed image displacements of common
photographic backgrounds by schlieren in the transfer
channel. To perform such a BOS visualization of schlieren,
two pictures of a deliberate background with sufficient
optical contrast and structure are typically taken. One of
these pictures has an undisturbed transfer channel; the
other includes the phase object of interest in the transfer Fig. 5. Density gradient field of a gun shot (no bullet involved). A gas
channel in the imaging process. In this manner, two cloud is leaving the gun on the right-hand side of the image with a
comparable pictures exist, the ‘‘difference’’ between which conical shape. In front of the gas cloud in the middle part of the
image, one can identify a ring vortex structure of accelerated gas. The
gives information about the phase object. These left-hand side of the image shows the positive density gradient of a
differences are mainly shifts in image details which are sound wave leaving the gun with the highest velocity
proportional to the light deflection by the field gradients in
the transfer channel in the direction of the imaging rays.
The shifts are evaluated by numerical correlation methods.
As a simple and reliable optical visualization and
measurement technique, it can be used in all experiments
where light deflections of this kind occur.
In a second approach, background-oriented stereo-
scopic schlieren, the schlieren object is imaged from two
different angles. In this manner, a stereoscopic view
delivers the spatial distribution of defined schlieren
objects such as vortices or hot spots.
The third approach is background-oriented optical
tomography, which allows for spatial reconstruction of
deliberate density gradient distributions in the transfer
channel by virtue of a large number of images from
different observation points.
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