Fast response aerodynamic probes for measurements in turbomachines

Abstract

Abstract

The present paper concentrates on the use of single- and multi-sensor pressure probes designed for the accurate measurement of unsteady total pressure and flow angle for turbo-machinery applications. Fast response pressure probes have the advantage of offering a high analogue bandwidth, a high signal-to-noise ratio, and a good reliability and robustness as compared to hot-wire techniques for instance. In addition to the magnitude and direction of the flow velocity vector, aerodynamic probes also indicate the total and static pressure as time-resolved quantities. Appropriate data processing then allows to retrieve not only the steady, but also the periodic and random components of the measured variables.

The design of several single or multi-sensor probes is briefly described in this paper. These probes have been developed, manufactured and fully calibrated at the von Karman Institute to be used in laboratory and in industry environments over the last 8 years. The main objective of this contribution is to address some examples of applications but focus on the capabilities of the technique rather than on flow field analysis.