A carbon nanotube sensor for wall shear stress measurement

A novel carbon nanotube (CNT) sensor is being developed to measure the mean and fluctuating wall shear stress (WSS) in a turbulent boundary layer. The CNT WSS sensor is based on the thermal principle and featured by high spatial and temporal resolutions (in the order of nm and kHz, respectively), low power consumption (in the order of μW), and a compact fabrication process compared with traditional WSS measurement sensors. The CNT WSS-sensing element was characterized in detail before its calibration. The CNT sensor was operated under a constant temperature (CT) operation mode and an overheat ratio range of -0.15 to -0.19 and calibrated in a fully developed turbulent channel flow. It has been observed for the first time in a macroscopic flow that the sensor output power is approximately proportional to the 1/3 powered WSS, as expected for a thermal-principle-based WSS sensor, and the wall shear stress measurement is demonstrated for a low Reynolds number flow. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.