Past Developments and Current Advancements in Unsteady Pressure Measurements in Turbomachines

The aim of this paper is to review, summarize, and record long-term experience with development and application of aerodynamic probes with built-in miniature pressure transducers for unsteady pressure measurement and industrial research in turbomachine components. The focus of the first half of the paper is on the work performed at VZLU Prague, Czech Republic (Secs. 3–8). The latest development in unsteady pressure measurement techniques and data reduction methodology suitable for future research in highly loaded, high-speed turbine engine components performed at NASA GRC Cleveland, OH, is reported in Secs. 8–15 of this paper. Excellent reviews of similar activities at ETH Zürich, Switzerland by Kupferschmied, et al. (2000, “Time-Resolved Flow Measurements With Fast-Response Aerodynamic Probes in Turbomachines,” Meas. Sci. Technol., 11(7), pp. 1036–1054) and at VKI Rhode-Sain-Genèse, Belgium by Sieverding, et al. (2000, “Measurement Techniques for Unsteady Flows in Turbomachines,” Exp. Fluids, 28(4), pp. 285–321) were already reported and are acknowledged here. A short list of reported accomplishments achieved by other researchers at various laboratories is also reported for completeness. The authors apologize to those whose contributions are not reported here. It is just an unfortunate oversight, not an intentional omission.