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Small silicon based pressure transducers for measurements in turbulent boundary layers

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Abstract

Small silicon based sensors for the measurement of wall-pressure in turbulent flows have been designed and fabricated using microelectronic technology. The sensor diaphragms have a side length of 100 and 300 μm, and polysilicon piezoresistive gauges were used for detection of the deflection. A two-dimensional flat plate boundary layer was employed to determine the performance of the pressure transducers, and comparisons with established data from the literature were made. A threshold value for the pressure fluctuations of about the double Kolmogorov length scale was estimated independently from the probability distribution as well as from the power spectra. In good agreement with theoretical predictions of Blake (1986), the slope of the power spectra was found to beω −1 in the intermediate andω −5 in the high frequency range.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thermo and Fluid Dynamics, Chalmers University of Technology, S-41296, Göteborg, Sweden

    L. Löfdahl

  2. Instrumentation Laboratory, Royal Institute of Technology, S-10044, Stockholm, Sweden

    E. Kälvesten & G. Stemme

Authors
  1. L. Löfdahl
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  2. E. Kälvesten
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  3. G. Stemme
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Additional information

Support from the Swedish Research Council for Engineering Sciences (TFR) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are grateful to Mr C. Vieider and Mr H. Elderstig, IMC (Industrial Microelectronics Center, Kista.) for fruitful discussions of the sensor fabrication, and to Mr B. Johansson, CTH (Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg) for valuable discussions of the measurements.

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Löfdahl, L., Kälvesten, E. & Stemme, G. Small silicon based pressure transducers for measurements in turbulent boundary layers. Experiments in Fluids 17, 24–31 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02412800

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02412800

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