As part of my research in BATL into compressible turbulence, I designed a probe mount for anemometry experiments in sulfur hexafluoride, a heavy gas. The picture below shows the experimental setup with the sensors required.
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The mount supported 2 hot-wire anemometers, along with a pitot tube and temperature sensor. The first design iteration was H shaped with rectangular profiles, but analysis and experiments showed high pressure on the mount leading to noise in recorded data. By changing the profiles to the NACA 0015 airfoil, adding further mounting support, and improving the stiffness of the entire structure, the vibrations during the experiment decreased significantly. The design allowed the mount to be 3D printed in our on campus rapid prototyping laboratory, and improved data quality with noise reduction.
Below are pictures of the mount inside the pressure vessel, along with simulation results. For more information, please read my technical report.
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The mount supported 2 hot-wire anemometers, along with a pitot tube and temperature sensor. The first design iteration was H shaped with rectangular profiles, but analysis and experiments showed high pressure on the mount leading to noise in recorded data. By changing the profiles to the NACA 0015 airfoil, adding further mounting support, and improving the stiffness of the entire structure, the vibrations during the experiment decreased significantly. The design allowed the mount to be 3D printed in our on campus rapid prototyping laboratory, and improved data quality with noise reduction.
Below are pictures of the mount inside the pressure vessel, along with simulation results. For more information, please read my technical report.
To comply with ITAR regulations and NDAs, all Astranis, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and SpaceX pictures shown are available publicly online