A new video technique to capture images generated by a smoke-wire

The smoke-wire technique is one of the most common visualization techniques in air flows, particularly in wind-tunnel experiments. The technique essentially is based on burning very fine beads of oil (smoke fluid) that form on a thin wire due to the oil's surface tension. The burning is initiated by the resistive heat of a current passing through the thin wire. During the burning time the oil beads leave streaks of smoke in the air stream creating a streaklike pattern of the flow (Nagib 1979).