A Multi-Sensor Hot-Wire Probe to Measure Vorticity and Velocity in Turbulent Flows

Abstract

The design and construction of a miniature hot-wire probe capable of simultaneously measuring all components of the velocity and vorticity vectors in turbulent flows are presented. A brief description of the probe resolution and calibration as well as the procedure to solve the cooling equations are given. Preliminary testing in the irrotational region of the flow shows that the spurious vorticity obtained from the probe due to system measurement error does not exceed 8 percent of the RMS vorticity fluctuation levels measured over the region y+ = 15 − 45 in a turbulent boundary layer.