Hot-wire Anemometry

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

True Measurement of High frequency Velocity

Variations…..
 Theory of operation

• Fundamentally, a hot wire makes use of the principle of

convective heat transfer from a heated surface being dependent
upon the flow conditions passing over it.

•The maximum temperature of the

sensor is maintained at a nominally
constant value of 1.7 times the fluid
temperature.
•For a given sensor geometry, the
steady state temperature distribution is
a function of the cooling velocity.
Wire Temperature Distribution
 Thermal model of sensor
• A hot-wire uses a 1 mm active region of 5 µm tungsten filament
with 50 µm copper plated support stubs.
• The unplated tungsten is referred to as the ‘active’ portion of
the sensor.
• The x-coordinate for the sensor is shown from the centre of the
wire.
Heat balance for an incremental element

I Rw
2
This can be simplified to give the general hot wire equation:

if radiation is neglected. The constants are given by:

Time Constant of Hot-wire

Rwire
Frequency of Hot-wire Anemometer
Schematic of Constant Current Anemometer
Schematic of Constant Temperature Anemometer
 CTA
• The constant temperature anemometer uses a feedback
amplifier to maintain the average wire temperature and wire
resistance constant {i.e., dTw/ dt = 0}, within the capability of
the amplifier.
• The practical upper frequency limit for a CTA is the frequency
at which the feedback amplifier becomes unstable.
• A third anemometer, presently under development, is the
constant voltage anemometer.
• This anemometer is based on the alterations of an operational
amplifier circuit and does not have a bridge circuit.
Frequency Response of CTA
 Steady state solution

• The general steady state solution to Equation, assuming that ,

is found by applying the boundary condition and defining the mean
wire temperature:

The non-dimensional steady state wire temperature distribution is then:

A heat balance can then be performed over the whole wire,
assuming that the flow conditions are uniform over the wire:

The two heat transfer components can be found from the flow
conditions and the wire temperature distribution:
to give a steady state heat transfer equation:

where the corrected heat transfer coefficient is given by:

If the Biot number is larger than approximately 3, as is usually the
case, in terms of Nusselt number this approximates to

giving the steady state calibration equation:

 PROBE PRE-CALIBRATION PROCEDURE
• Once a probe is constructed and mode of operation is
selected, the following procedure should ensure accurate
and reliable measurements.
• First, the probe should be operated at the maximum q¥ and
Tw that will be used during the proposed test.
• This is done to pre-stress and pre-heat the wire to ensure
that no additional strain will be imposed on the wire during
the test that could alter its resistance.
• For supersonic and high subsonic flows, the wires should
also be checked for strain gaging, that is, stresses generated
in the wire due to its vibration.
• During this pre-testing many wires will fail due to faulty
wires or manufacturing techniques.
• But it is better that the wires fail in pre-testing rather than
during an actual test.
In practice, hot-wires are calibrated in the form of u= f (E).

rather than the more conventional form of E =f (u).

The constant To and  version of King's law for a CTA is

When expressed as u = f (E) = gives:

 VELOCITY CALIBRATION, CURVE FITTING
• Calibration establishes a relation between the CTA output
and the flow velocity.
• It is performed by exposing the probe to a set of known
velocities, U, and then record the voltages, E.
• A curve fit through the points (E,U) represents the transfer
function to be used when converting data records from
voltages into velocities.
• Calibration may either be carried out in a dedicated probe
calibrator, which normally is a free jet, or in a wind-tunnel
with for example a pitot-static tube as the velocity reference.
• It is important to keep track of the temperature during
calibration.
• If it varies from calibration to measurement, it may be
necessary to correct the CTA data records for temperature
variations.
Polynomial curve fitting:
Plot U as function of Ecorr
Create a polynomial trend line in 4th order:
Measurement of Multi-dimensional Flow
X-probe calibration procedure
 DIRECTIONAL CALIBRATION
• Directional calibration of multi-sensor probes provides the
individual directional sensitivity coefficients (yaw factor k and
pitch-factor h) for the sensors, which are used to decompose
calibration velocities into velocity components.
• X-array probes
• The yaw coefficients, k1 and k2, are used in order to decompose
the calibration velocities Ucal1 and Ucal2 from an X-probe into
the U and V components.
• Directional calibration of X-probes requires a rotation unit,
where the probe can be rotated on an axis through the crossing
point of the wires perpendicular to the wire plane.
• Calculation of the yaw coefficients requires that a probe
coordinate system is defined with respect to the wires, and that
the probe has been calibrated against velocity.
X-Probe
X-probe decomposition into velocity components U and V

• Calculate the calibration velocities Ucal1 and Ucal2 using the

linearisation functions for sensor 1 and 2.
• Decomposition with yaw coefficients k1 and k2 :
• Calculate the velocities U1 and U2 in the wire-coordinate system
(1,2) defined by the sensors using the two equations:
which gives:

Calculate the velocities U and V in the probe coordinate

system (X,Y) from:
 Tri-axial probes

• The directional sensitivity of tri-axial probes is characterised by

both a yaw and a pitch coefficient, k and h, for each sensor.
• Calibration of tri-axial probes requires a holder, where the probe
axis (X-direction) can be tilted with respect to the flow and
thereafter rotated 360° around its axis.
• Proper evaluation of the coefficient requires that a probe
coordinate system is defined with respect to the sensor-
orientation.
• Directional calibration is made on the basis of a velocity
calibration.
Tri-axial probe calibration procedure
 Tri-axial probe decomposition into velocity
components U, V and W
• In a 3-D flows measured with a Tri-axial probe the
calibration velocities are used together with the yaw and
pitch coefficients k2 and h2 to calculate the three velocity
components U, V and W in the probe coordinate system
(X,Y,Z).
• The yaw and pitch coefficients for the three sensors may
be the manufacturer’s default values, or if higher accuracy
is required they are determined by directional calibration
of the individual sensors.
Calculate the calibration velocities Ucal1 , Ucal2 and Ucal3 using the
linearisation functions for sensor 1, 2 and 3.

Calculate the velocities U1 , U2 and U3 in the wire-coordinate

system (1,2,3) defined by the sensors using the three equations:
 With the k2=0.0225 and , h2=1.04 default values for a tri-axial
wire probe, the velocities U1, U2 and U3 in the wire coordinate
system becomes:

Calculate the U, V and W in the probe coordinate system:

Time averaged Navier Stokes Equation

u u u 1 dp   2 u  2 u  2 u   u '2 u ' v' u ' w' 

u v w   v 2  2  2    
x y z  dx  x y z   x y z 

u
 u ' v'  
y

For all the Three Momentum Equations, turbulent

stress tensor:

 ( xx  u '2 ) ( xy  u ' v') ( xz  u ' w')

 
 ij ,turbulent   ( yx  v' u ') ( yy  v'2 ) ( yz  v' w') 
 2 
( zx  u ' w') ( zy  w' v') ( zz  w' ) 
 2.Eddy Viscosity models

For 2-D incompressible boundary layer equation

u  u ' v'
 u ' v'   T or T 
y u
y
Momentum Equation,

u u 1 dp    T  u
u v  v 1  
x y  dx y  v  y
 (b) ONE-EQUATION MODELS

 q2 2  q2 2
u v
x y
  T  q 2
2
T ui  T  q
2
 v 1  (r )  v Sij  Cv 1  (r ) 2
y    y  xi    2l

where
q 2 u '2  v'2  w'2
 , Turbulence Kinetic Energy
2 2

1  ui u j 
Sij   Mean Strain Rate
2  x j xi 

 (c) TWO-EQUATION MODELS

Turbulence K.E.

 k   
2
k u i   T  k 1/ 2 
u j   ij  
         2   


x j x j x j  k  x j    x j  


Dissipation Rate

2
  u i   T     2 2 T   2u 
u j  C1  ij         C2   2 
x j k x j x j    x j  k   x2 
 Measurement of Turbulence

N
1 t T 1
u 
T  t
u (t )dt 
N
u
i 1
i

 u (t )  u 
1 t T 2 1 t T
 dt  
2
u rms u '2 (t )dt
T t T t

 u 
N
1 2
u 2
rms  i u
N i 1
Two simultaneous velocity time series provide cross-moments
(basis for Reynolds shear stresses) and higher order cross moments
(lateral transport quantities), when they are acquired at the same
point.
If they are acquired at different points they provide spatial
correlations, which carries information about typical length scales
in the flow.

Reynolds shear stresses:

Lateral transport quantities:
 Sensor type selection
Wire sensors:
• Miniature wires:
• First choice for applications in air flows with turbulence
intensities up to 5-10%. They have the highest frequency
response. They can be repaired and are the most affordable
sensor type.
• Gold-plated wires:
• For applications in air flows with turbulence intensities up
to 20-25%. Frequency response is inferior to miniature
wires. They can be repaired.
Fibre-film sensors:
• Thin-quartz coating: For applications in air. Frequency
response is inferior to wires. They are more rugged than
wire sensors and can be used in less clean air. They can be
repaired.
• Heavy-quartz coating:
• For applications in water. They can be repaired. Film-
sensors:
• Thin-quartz coating: For applications in air at moderate-
to-low fluctuation frequencies.
• They are the most rugged CTA probe type and can be used
in less clean air than fibre-sensors. They normally cannot
be repaired.
• Heavy-quartz coating:
• For applications in water. They are more rugged than
fibre-sensors. They cannot normally be repaired.