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A pressure probe for the detection of the flow direction close to walls. Case study: flow through a bend

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Abstract

We report on the development of a new pressure probe that detects the flow direction in wall-bound flow. Two pressure differences are measured and combined in a pressure coefficient which is proportional to the flow direction in a ±20° range. The probe is applied to the secondary flow vortex pair generated in a 90° pipe bend, with excellent results. The vortex pair, and its downstream decay, are identified. Furthermore, the stability of the vortex pair is found to depend sensitively on the upstream conditions. When these are fixed, the vortices stay put; in other words they are spatially stabilized. The consequences for installation effects on flow metering are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (PE 401/20-1)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Strömungsmechanik, Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Franz Peters & C. Ruppel

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  1. Franz Peters
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  2. C. Ruppel
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Correspondence to Franz Peters.

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Peters, F., Ruppel, C. A pressure probe for the detection of the flow direction close to walls. Case study: flow through a bend. Exp Fluids 36, 813–818 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-003-0763-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-003-0763-1

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