Double S-type Pitot Tube for velocity field study of fire whirls

摘要

In this paper we present a pressure measurement instrument based on the S-type Pitot tube modified to measure the two velocity components of a high temperature flow assuming that the flow is locally two-dimensional. The development of this new device, which we designate as the Double S-type Pitot Tube, is related to the difficulty and the lack of precision of measurements with a standard S-type Pitot tube in flows with unknown directions like the case of fire whirls in laboratory experiments. The design construction and calibration method of the device are described. The pitch angle of the flow and the velocity coefficients of the probe are analysed experimentally in a wind tunnel calibration as well as the associated errors. The use of this sensor in a fire whirl laboratory test is shown and the results are compared with those of simple S-type Pitot tubes in the same test. The obtained results show the applicability and better performance of the novel device.