Design and fabrication of micro thermal sensor array

Abstract

Knowledge of wall shear stress is essential for understanding the dynamics of fluid flow, and its measurement holds great importance for investigating and controlling near wall turbulence and flow separation in aerodynamic control. Based on the well-established principle of thermal anemometry, an array of thin film sensors on a flexible polyimide substrate was designed and fabricated. Then, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations were performed to estimate the corresponding shear stress distribution within the column cylinder aerofoil at flow velocity of 17.3 m/s. In wind tunnel tests, the result demonstrates that the above mentioned system can fulfill the dynamic and real-time characteristic requirements of the adaptive control system.