Equilibrium Temperature and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Hot Wires in Supersonic Flow

Author: McClellan, Robert

Year: 1955

Degree: Engineer's thesis

Advisor: Laufer, John

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Aeronautics

DOI: 10.7907/AB2Y-MC42

Abstract

An experimental investigation was made of two problems that are fundamental to the application of hot wire anemometry in a supersonic flow. First, the equilibrium temperature of a wire in supersonic flow was established as a function of the flow parameters. Second, the heat loss law for a heated wire in a supersonic flow was determined. In the latter case it was shown that the heat loss, represented by a Nusselt number, is a function of Reynolds number only, with the temperature loading as a parameter. There is no Mach number effect from M = 1.80 to M = 4.54, the range of the present experiments.

The results show that the hot wire should be a satisfactory instrument for the measurement of both mean values and fluctuations of the mass flow and the stagnation temperature.

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