Differential-pressure fiber-optic airflow sensor for wind tunnel testing.

A differential-pressure fiber-optic airflow (DPFA) sensor based on Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometry for wind tunnel testing is proposed and demonstrated. The DPFA sensor can be well coupled with a Pitot tube, similar to the operation of the differential diaphragm capsule in the airspeed indicator on the aircraft. For differential pressure sensing between total pressure and static pressure in the airflow, an FP cavity is formed between the sensing diaphragm and a fiber end-face, and a tubule is inserted into the FP cavity. According to the principle of differential pressure derived from Bernoulli's equation, the airflow velocity can be determined by monitoring the change of the FP cavity length. The experimental results demonstrate that a DPFA sensor with 0∼11 kPa measurable range, 826.975 nm/kPa sensitivity, and 0.008% (0.89 Pa) resolution can be realized. Combined with a 100 Hz-sweep frequency self-developed white light interferometric (WLI) interrogator and a Pitot tube, the DPFA sensor can be used for measuring the airflow velocity of 2.0∼119.24 m/s with an accuracy of 0.61%. The system is applied to the analysis of the flat-plate boundary layer, a wind tunnel experimental model, where the results are consistent with those of the theoretical analysis and from the standard electronic pressure transducer. With the large measurable range, high sweep frequency, and high precision, the system has potential application value for wind tunnel experimental investigation and in-flight measurement of airspeed.