Browsing by Author "Atkinson, Kevin"

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    Aero-whisker for the measurement of aircraft flight speed and angle of attack in compressible flow conditions
    (AIAA, 2023-06-08) Debiasi, Marco; Atkinson, Kevin; Saddington, Alistair J.; Finnis, Mark
    A whisker-like device has been designed and tested that simultaneously measures the speed and the direction of a flow in which it protrudes. The device consists of a thin cylindrical probe longer than the thickness of the local boundary layer whose aerodynamic drag produces a moment at its base which is measured by a solid-state torque transducer. With proper calibration, the orthogonal components of the moment can be used to measure the speed and the direction of the flow. Measurements have been performed in a wind tunnel to validate the design at flow velocities ranging from Mach 0.15 to Mach 0.87 and for flow angles relative to the probe ranging from -88° to +88°. The results obtained indicate that the aero-whisker is capable to accurately measure the Mach number and direction of the flow with potential for further optimization for aircraft applications.