Abstract
A new liquid crystal technique for full surface skin friction measurements is introduced. With the new technique, the transmission of light through nematic liquid crystal viewed in reflection provides a quantitative measurement of the skin friction. The measurement technique is discussed with the aid of a model which describes the rotation dynamics of the liquid crystal molecules. Calibration experiments performed in a laminar flow duct demonstrate that the model captures the essential physics of the new technique. The measurement of skin friction downstream of a three dimensional roughness element in an incompressible laminar boundary layer is then presented as a demonstration of the utility of the technique.
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Received: 5 June 1998/Accepted: 13 November 1998
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Buttsworth, D., Elston, S. & Jones, T. Skin friction measurements on reflective surfaces using nematic liquid crystal. Experiments in Fluids 28, 64–73 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003480050009
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003480050009