Turbulence measurements using sensors based on silicon technology

A small and highly sensitive flow velocity sensor was designed and fabricated using silicon microelectronic technology. To determine the performance of this silicon sensor, comparisons with a conventional hot-wire sensor were made in a well-defined two-dimensional turbulent flat-plate boundary layer at a constant Reynolds number of 1.2×10 ⁶. The silicon sensor was found to have a spatial and frequency resolution that makes it suitable for turbulence measurements. In the investigated flow field the silicon sensor measures profiles of the mean velocity and the turbulence intensity with the same accuracy as the hot wire. The results of the flat-plate measurements were used for the development of new sensor configurations that allow the measurement of turbulent stresses and velocity and temperature correlations