Accurate measurements of local skin friction coefficient using hot-wire anemometry

Abstract

The practicality and accuracy of many existing methods of local skin friction measurement suffer when the boundary layer flow under consideration is non-canonical. Such shortcomings are exacerbated in three-dimensional flows, by the necessity to map local cf over a wider area in order to characterise fully the contribution to global skin friction. These problems have led the authors to seek novel experimental methods of cf measurement. The technique proposed herein utilises velocity measurements made using hot-wire anemometry combined with accurate positioning of the sensor element in respect to the test surface. In essence it is proposed that the local skin friction can be evaluated via a s..