FLOW MEASUREMENT

USING ANEMOMETRY
INTRODUCTION
What is Anemometer?
It is an instrument for recording the speed and often the
direction of winds.

Any instrument that measures the rate of movement of a

fluid.
HOT WIRE ANEMOMETER
Intrusive technique
Measurement of Instantaneous velocities and
temperature at a point in the flow
Necessary to carry out fundamental turbulent studies
An ideal tool for measurement of velocity fluctuations
in time-domain in turbulent flows.
OPERATING PRINCIPLE
A heated object (probe) in a moving stream loses heat
at a rate that increases with the fluid velocity
If the object is electrically heated at a known power, it
will reach a temperature determined by the rate of
cooling. Thus, its temperature will be a measure of the
velocity
Conversely, the heating power may be controlled by a
feedback system to hold the temperature constant. In
that case, heating power is a measure of velocity
When a probe is introduced into the flowing fluid, it
tends to be cooled by the instantaneous velocity
The rate of cooling of the wire depends upon
i) Dimensions and physical properties of the wire
ii) difference of the wire and fluid temperatures
iii) Physical properties of the fluid and iv) Stream
velocity under measurement
For a simple hot-wire anemometer, the first three
conditions are effectively constant and then the
instrument response is a direct measure of velocity
MODES OF OPERATION

a) Constant Current mode of operation

CONSTANT-CURRENT HOT-WIRE ANEMOMETER
A fine resistance wire carrying fixed current is exposed
to the flow velocity
The flowing current generates heat on account of i2R
loss and this heat is dissipated from the surface by
convection
The wire attains equilibrium temperature when i2R
heat generated = heat dissipated due to convective loss
The circuit is designed such that i2R heat is constant
and therefore the wire-temperature must adjust itself
to convective loss until equilibrium
Since the convection film coefficient is a function of
flow velocity, the equilibrium wire temperature is a
measure of velocity
 The wire temperature can be measured by its
electrical resistance
A constant current is passed through the sensing wire, that
is the voltage is kept constant
Due to the fluid flow, heat transfer takes place from the
sensing wire to the flowing fluid and the temperature of
the wire reduces causing a change in resistance of sensing
wire
This change in resistance of sensing wire becomes a
measure of flow rate
The change in the resistance corresponding to equilibrium
is measured by deflection of galvanometer, and this
becomes a measure of flow rate when calibrated
GOVERNING EQUATION
CONSTANT TEMPERATURE HOT-WIRE
ANEMOMETER
A current is initially passed through a wire, due to the fluid
flow, heat transfer takes place from the sensing wire to the
flowing gas
This tends to change the temperature and hence the
resistance
As the principle in this method is to maintain the
temperature and hence the resistance of the wire constant,
the current is increased to bring back the sensing wire to
its initial temperature.
The current required to bring back the resistance to initial
condition is a measure of flow rate when calibrated
APPLICATIONS
Used extensively in research Applications for studying
various flow conditions
Used to measure extremely sensitive fluctuations in
the liquid flow velocity
Employed for measurements involving frequencies as
high as 50 KHz.
Doppler’s effect A common example of
The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift is the change
the Doppler shift) is the change of pitch heard when a 
in frequency of a wave in relation vehicle sounding a horn
to an observer, who is moving
relative to the wave source   approaches and recedes
from an observer.

Compared to the emitted

frequency, the received
frequency is higher during
the approach, identical at
the instant of passing by,
and lower during the
recession.
Doppler-Shift
The size of the Doppler
shift in a wave scattered
from a moving particle
depends on the particle's
direction relative to the
incident wave, as well as ∆f = The Doppler frequency shift (Hz),
the observer's position V = the particle velocity (m/s) .
A calculation shows that λ = the wavelength of the original wave
before scattering (m),
the frequency shift β = the angle between the velocity vector
observed is : and the bisector of the angle SPQ,
α= the angle between the observer and the
∆f = (2V/λ) cos β sin (α/2) axis of the incoming wave
Laser Doppler Anemometer - Principle
If a narrow beam of radio-
frequency, optimal frequency or
ultrasonic frequency is allowed to
incident on a particle in a flowing
fluid, the particle scatters the beam
and causes a frequency shift
For the flowing fluid, as the particle
also moves with fluid velocity, the
frequency shift due to Doppler's
effect occurs. This shift in the
frequency is proportional to the
fluid velocity
Concept to Technology
A direct way to estimate fD is to measure the incident
frequency, f, and the observed frequency, fO, and find the
difference.
The Doppler shift is a very small fraction of the incident
frequency, so this results in estimating a small value from
the difference of two large values, a process with a high
degree of uncertainty.
To improve the estimate of fD, a method using two incident
beams has been developed.
In this configuration the incident beam is split into two
beams of equal intensity.
The Difference Method

The beams are directed to intersect, and the point of intersection is the
measurement volume.
Particles that pass through the measurement volume scatter light from
both beams.
The frequency shift of the light scattered from each beam will be
different.
Schematic of LDA or LDV
Operation
 The transmitting optics include an optical element to split the original
laser beam into two parallel beams and a lens system to focus and cross
the two beams.
 The intersection region of the two beams becomes the measuring
region.
 The receiving optics collect a portion of the light scattered by the
particles, in the fluid stream, passing through the beam-crossing
region and direct this light to a photo detector, which converts the
scattered light intensity to an analog electrical signal.
 The frequency of this signal is proportional to the velocity of the
particle.
 A signal processor extracts the frequency information from the photo
detector output and provides this as a digital number corresponding to
the instantaneous velocity of the particle.

 The data processing system obtains the detailed flow properties from
these instantaneous velocity measurements.