A method for measuring skin friction drag on a flat plate in contaminated gas flows

A technique for measuring friction drag in turbulent gas and gas/particle flows over flat plates is presented, and preliminary results are reported. A 0.25-in.-thick 72 x 6-in. Al plate is suspended by six horizontal support air bearings and four vertical alignment air bearings between fixed dummy plates and leading-edge and trailing-edge fairings in the 32-in.-high 48-in.-wide 11-ft-long test section of a closed-circuit atmospheric wind tunnel operating at 50-150 ft/sec. Particles of Fe and Al oxides of diameter 20-150 microns and density up to 0.3 lb particles per lb air are injected via a 6 x 0.167-in. nozzle; turbulence is induced by a roughened section of the leading-edge fairing; and friction drag is measured using a load-cell pressure transducer. Sample results are shown in a graph, demonstrating good agreement with theoretical drag calculations.