AME341b 2010 Lecture&amp Lab Notes Jerry

AME341B
MECHOPTRONICS II
Lecture & Lab Notes
Cheng-Yuan Jerry Chen & Geo Spedding
Spring 2011
Contents
1 Course Information 1
1.1 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Laboratory materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Grading and Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Predicted/Approximate Grade Distribution . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 Computing the Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.3 Timing, Scheduling and Make-up . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.4 Academic Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.5 How to Get an A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 General Lab Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.1 Time Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.2 Space Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.3 Computer Usage & Printing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.4 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.5 Academic Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Vibration Analysis 9
2.1 Second Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1 Governing Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 Free Vibration (Unforced Dynamic Response) . . . . . 10
2.1.3 Solutions of the Underdamped System . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Strain Gauges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.1 Strain Sensitivity and Gauge Factor . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.2 Practical Gauge Design and Materials . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.3 The Wheatstone Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 Flexure Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
v
vi CONTENTS
2.4.1 Measurement of Microstrain in a Second Order Me-
chanical System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.2 An Engineering Spreadsheet Report . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.3 Important Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3 Heat Transfer and Thermocouples 31
3.1 Denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.2 Useful Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.2.1 Law of Intermediate Metals (LIM) . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.2.2 Practical Consequences of LIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.2.3 Law of Intermediate Temperatures (LIT) . . . . . . . . 33
3.3 Static Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4 Dynamic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4.1 Conservation of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.4.2 Solution of First Order System for Step-Function Forcing 37
3.4.3 Meanwhile, Back in the Lab... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.5 Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.5.1 Thermocouples and Heat Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.5.2 Sometime Later, Furiously Report-Writing..... . . . . . 50
4 Fluid Flow and Turbulence 55
4.1 Fluid Turbulence and Jet Flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.1.1 Jets: Applications and denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.1.2 Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1.3 Time-Averaged Quantities and Universal Statistical States 59
4.1.4 Dimensional Analysis and the Reynolds Number . . . . 61
4.1.5 Practical Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.1.6 Dynamic Pressure - How to Measure n from j? . . . . 65
4.2 Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.2.1 Pressure/Velocity Measurements in a Turbulent Jet . . 66
4.2.2 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.2.3 Testing Velocity Proles in Turbulent Jets for Self-
Similarity A Practical Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.2.4 Assignment: 3 Plots + Minitalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
CONTENTS vii
5 LabVIEW Programming 81
5.1 Lab 1: Basic of LabVIEW Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.1.1 Acquire a Voltage from Channel 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.1.2 Construct a Digital Thermometer using LabVIEW . . 84
5.1.3 Homework Assignment: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.2 Lab 2: Further Adventures in LabVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.2.1 Stepper Motor Control and Simple Data Acquisition . 91
5.2.2 Homework Assignment: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.3 Lab 3: Automated Sampling of Turbulent Jet Flows . . . . . . 101
5.3.1 Part 1: Check Calibration Constants . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.3.2 Part 2: Make a Standalone Flow Meter . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.3 Part 3: Modifying and Testing your Customized Jets.vi 104
5.3.4 Part 4: Obtain and Analyze l() Proles Across a
Turbulent Jet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.3.5 Part 5: Prepare for the Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.4 Lab 4: Turbulent Jets II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.4.1 Additional Notes for Measuring Turbulent Jets . . . . . 107
5.4.2 Special Lab Rules for Turbulent Jets II Lab . . . . . . 108
Chapter 1
Course Information
1.1 Materials
1.1.1 Textbooks
There is currently no required textbook for this course, because of the unique
mix of materials. There are two recommended textbooks that have been
ordered from the bookstore:
Alciatore DG & Histand MB 2007 Introduction to Mechatronics and
Measurement Systems, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0072963050
Figliola RS & Beasley DE 2011 Theory and Design for Mechanical
Measurements, Fifth Edition. Wiley. ISBN 0471445932
Both of the books are strongly recommended. Reference will be made
to both of these texts throughout the semester, so that background material
can be found in either one.
1.1.2 Laboratory materials
1. Notebook. Each student must have a lab notebook where experi-
mental details are recorded. Remember, together with any computer-
generated les, the information collected here forms the basis for your
report. Frequently, this is where you will note the signicance and con-
text of the data les. Rough translation: no good notebook = no good
1
2 CHAPTER 1 COURSE INFORMATION
report = no good grade. The notebooks will be collected and graded
at the end of the semester.
2. USB ash drive. (provided last semester) For data les, electronic
copies of lab and lecture notes, and submission of some assignments.
3. Lecture notes/Lab Notes. (provided) Always bring lecture notes/Lab
Notes to the lab. This way the connection between the more theoretical
material and the practical exercises can be claried.
4. Calculator. It is often convenient and/or necessary to calculate and
check quantities on the y. Do your sanity checks in the lab, so that
gross errors can be detected before it is too late.
5. Your brain. The laboratory exercises will be pointless and boring
unless you bring some active component into the room.
1.2 Grading and Conduct
1.2.1 Predicted/Approximate Grade Distribution
The grading will be based primarily on evaluation of your written lab reports
and spreadsheets, together with two quizzes. There will also be a number of
talks during which you will be presenting some of the results obtained during
the labs. These make up the balance of the grade. The following table is
given as an approximate guide only.
% of grade
Report and Spreadsheets 58
Talks 16
Quiz 17
Lab Performance 9
Total 100
Clearly, the most important component is the written reports. We at-
tempt to arrange the semester so that you always get feedback from one
attempt before another of similar style is graded.
1.2 GRADING AND CONDUCT 3
The Lab Performance contribution is assigned by sta and TAs through-
out the semester, and is a measure of each students eort and contribution
during lab hours.
A detailed breakdown is given in class schedule. Assignments and their
relative weights are allowed to vary during the semester, as we adapt to
conditions in the lab.
1.2.2 Computing the Grade
The grade is calculated from a weighted sum of normalized grades for all
assignments using Blackboard systems Grade Center. Roughly speaking,
students with grades higher than half a standard deviation above the mean
are likely to receive A grades; Students with grades lower than half a
standard deviation below the mean are likely to receive C grade or lower;
Students with grades in between half a standard deviation above and below
the mean will be falling into B grade region. This grade calculation is for
approximate guides only, the actual calculation formula may vary slightly
as we adapt to conditions in the lab.
1.2.3 Timing, Scheduling and Make-up
Each assignment is due within one or two weeks of the lab, as specied at lab
time, or in the Web announcements. Physical documents must be handed in
at the lab in BHE 301. They must be handed in on time. In dealing with
large numbers of complex assignments such as this, it is necessary to enforce
strict rules concerning the production and grading of homework assignments
and reports. Consequently, a late report will be docked 10% per day, or
fraction of a day, overdue. One (1) minute late counts as 1 day late and there
are no exceptions. Late work will not be accepted more than 1 week after
the due date. For similar reasons, there are no make-up labs. All labs will
count towards the total grade (i.e. none are dropped). Absences for medical
reasons must be justied with some reasonable evidence. It is not possible
to pass the course if you are missing two or more assignments.
1.2.4 Academic Integrity
Each student must write their own report, do their own homework, and ll
in their own worksheet. This includes the generation of graphs, any data
analysis and preparation. You are encouraged to work together during the
lab, and also to discuss your work with your partner or other colleagues, but
you must do your own work on the write-up.
Some aspects bear repeating in detail. Part of the challenge of a class like
AME341 is in the design and construction of reports and analysis strategies
of lab data. Your grade is based on how well you are able to do this. You
must decide for yourself how to present the material and in what order and
in what format. You alone decide what goes in and what stays out. You
alone decide whether to show a result as a table, a graph or an equation.
Collaboration on these points is not OK.
Similarly, you may not show the results of your report to anyone else in
the class until it is graded. If you do, then you share the penalty if that
material is copied or is used as inspiration for work that is judged to be
copied or not original.
There are three main ways in which students most commonly attempt to
take illegal shortcuts in this class. They are:
1. Collaborating with one or more classmates in report writing.
2. Copying text or graphics directly from the published class notes or the
Web.
3. Taking material from previous years.
To ensure fair play, it is our duty as faculty and sta to be actively vigilant
for these transgressions and to follow through on advertised rules of imposing
penalties.
If you are in any doubt about this, ask us, because we take plagiarism and
cheating very seriously. It is usually very clear when plagiarism has occurred,
and the subject is often very surprised to learn this. Do not let this be you.
Refer to the documents on the 341 memory stick, which come from the USC
Student Judicial Aairs and Community Standards Web pages.
As a rule of thumb, do not ever copy and paste. Do not copy mater-
ial from previous years, because the material changes. It is a simple and
straightforward matter of fairness and respect for your fellow students that
you all abide by the same rules.
All copied reports or reports that contain copied material receive an im-
mediate grade of zero. These cases will then be referred by written report
to the Oce for Student Judicial Aairs. The recommended action will be
a grade of F for the course.
1.3 GENERAL LAB RULES 5
1.2.5 How to Get an A
Let us rather end on an upbeat note here! Here are some tips to maximize
the chances of doing well.
1. Read the notes. All the absolute minimum required notes, based on the
lectures themselves are in the course reader, and are on the Web pages.
In addition, there are background reading sections in the two optional
textbooks. To get the most out of the course, read the background
material in either one of these books, and make sure that it makes
sense along with the lecture notes.
2. Budget your time carefully. Writing a reasonable report takes many
hours of sometimes hard, and sometimes straightforward, work. Fig-
ure on 10 hours, at least, for a full-length report. Do not make this
impossible by leaving insucient time. Do not leave it until the last
moment.
3. Make the connection between the lecture/Web materials and the lab
work. The tremendous potential of this course for real learning is made
by those who realize this connection. It is the job and responsibility of
the individual student to make this connection, by applying thought to
both components.
4. Get help. Use the oce hours, discussion boards and the TAs with
intelligence. We can prod the most mediocre student to great OK
better things!
5. Come to lectures. To a large extent, you can get all handouts and
assignments without physically coming to the lecture room. However,
with all the newfangled techniques, asking questions, and writing things
down on the board, and listening to explanations still work really well.
Thats it! Have a great time, keep that brain switched on, and good luck!
1.3 General Lab Rules
1.3.1 Time Management
1. Lab hours are from2pm till 5pmwith 30 minutes extension if needed.
Doors will close at 5:30pm.
2. Always come to lab on time. Penalties will be applied to lab perfor-
mance score if late for any lab.
3. Always turn in your assignments on time. 10% penalties per day
late will be applied to each assignment score if late. No assignment
will be accepted if late for more than 7 days.
4. Study lecture notes and lab notes are required BEFORE entering your
lab to ensure that you nish your lab on time.
1.3.2 Space Management
1. Leave your personal belongings (backpacks, skateboards,...etc.) in the
presentation room during lab hours.
2. Keep the lab clean. No food or drinks allow in the lab area. (OK
in presentation room).
3. Our sta will ensure the lab devices and equipment are organized before
you enter lab. Make sure that you put away your lab components and
devices(cables, beakers, measuring devices, tapes,...etc.) back to where
they belong after youve done your lab. It is your responsibility to
make the lab devices and equipment organized after youve
done your lab.
4. Library books are free to use ONLY in our library area. Do not take
any books away from the lab. Do not make any mark to any library
books in the lab.
1.3.3 Computer Usage & Printing Rules
1. Login name for all lab stations is JStude and the password is AME-
lab.
2. Do not customize any lab stations. Do not install any software onto
any lab stations.
3. Save your lab data le ONLY under the following directory E:homeJStude.
You may create personal sub-folders under above directory. All les in
above directory will be kept for the entire semester; all personal les in
other locations will be removed after each lab.
1.3 GENERAL LAB RULES 7
4. Save your lab data rst in lab stations hard drives under above direc-
tory then transfer your data les onto your USB drive to prevent any
data loss.
5. No internet activities are allow during lab hours. You may
transfer your lab data via email system only AFTER youve done
your lab.
6. Lab printers are for lab reports ONLY. No lecture notes or other non-
341 related les are allowed to print from our lab printers. Be sure that
you prepare at least 30 minutes to print out your lab papers to avoid
any printer problems. Remember all lab assignments are strictly due
at 2:00pm. No excuse of late reports due to printer failure
will be accepted.
7. Log o your lab station (Do not turn o) after your lab.
1.3.4 Miscellaneous
1. Switch lab partner for each lab. No repeated lab partners allowed in
the same semester.
2. Lab notebook needs to be signed and checked by a sta member BE-
FORE you leave lab.
3. Concentrate during lab hours. Turn o your cellular phone during your
lab.
1.3.5 Academic Integrity
1. Do your own work for all the assignments.
2. Do not copy-paste any materials from others (your classmates, former
students, internet contents, Wikipedia,...etc.).
3. No plagiarism will be tolerated.
Chapter 2
Vibration Analysis
2.1 Second Order Systems
2.1.1 Governing Equations
All mechanical systems are governed by Newtons laws of motion, the most
familiar of which is
1(t) = `
d
2
(t)
dt
2
(2.1)
where ` is the mass, is the displacement, and 1 is the sum of forces acting
on the system. Since the inertial force is usually proportional to d
2
,dt
2
,
Eq.(2.1) shows that such mechanical systems are always second order. These
are called linear second order systems as long as no nonlinear forces are
disturbing the system.
This turns out to be of great practical signicance, since almost all dy-
namic mechanical systems are indeed linear second order, so knowledge ac-
quired about one systemcan be readily transferred to another problem. [Brief
translation: Learn this stu, and you will nd it useful for more than just
this lab/report/class/degree. Really!]
The simplest mechanical systemis the mass-spring-damper problemshown
in Figure 2.1. When displaced from its equilibrium at = 0, the restoring
force due to the spring is
1
cj
(t) = /(t). (2.2)
where / is the spring constant. The force due to wall friction can be modeled
as a viscous damper which is linearly proportional to the velocity of the
9
10 CHAPTER 2 VIBRATION ANALYSIS
Figure 2.1: (a)Mass-spring-damper system. (b)Free-body diagram.
mass
1
o
(t) = /
d(t)
dt
. (2.3)
where / is the damping coecient of the system. Thus, the governing equa-
tion of such system is:
`
d
2
(t)
dt
2
+ /
d(t)
dt
+ /(t) = :(t). (2.4)
where :(t) represents external forcing to the system.
2.1.2 Free Vibration (Unforced Dynamic Response)
If we consider the free vibration of a second order system, the forcing function
is zero and the general solution of Eq.(2.4) is of the form
(t) = /
1
exp(:
1
t) + /
2
exp(:
2
t). (2.5)
where the coecients /
1
and /
2
are called residues of the system. The roots
of the characteristic equation are
:
1,2
= .
a
.
a
_
2
1. (2.6)
where .
a
=
_
/,`is the natural frequency, = /,(2
_
/`) is the dimen-
sionless damping ratio of the system. When 1, the roots are real and
2.1 SECOND ORDER SYSTEMS 11
the system is overdamped; when 0 _ < 1, the roots are complex conju-
gates and the system is underdamped; when = 1, the roots are repeated
and real, and the condition is called critical damping.
2.1.3 Solutions of the Underdamped System
Vibration occurs when the system is underdamped, i.e. < 1. The roots
of characteristic equation in Eq.(2.6) can then be re-written as
:
1,2
= .
a
,.
a
_
1
2
. (2.7)
where , =
_
1. The characteristic roots are plotted in the complex plane
in Figure 2.2. As varies with .
a
constant, the complex conjugate roots
Figure 2.2: A complex plane plot of mass-spring-damper system under free
vibration.
follow a circular locus, as shown in Figure 2.3. the transient response is
increasingly oscillatory as the roots approach the imaginary axis when ap-
proaches zero.The unforced dynamic response (t) of the spring-mass-damper
mechanical system having initial conditions (0) =
0
and d(t),dt = 0 can
be obtained from evaluating the residues /
1
and /
2
. Through Laplace trans-
formation and Taylor series expansion techniques, /
1
and /
2
can be evaluated
Figure 2.3: The locus of roots as varies with .
a
constant.
as
/
1
=

0
2
_
1
2
exp ,(
:
2
o). (2.8)
and
/
2
=

0
2
_
1
2
exp ,(
:
2
o). (2.9)
where o = cos
1
represents phase angle in the complex plane as shown in
Figure 2.2. Substitute Eq.(2.8) and Eq.(2.9) into Eq.(2.5), the solution of
Eq.(2.4) becomes
(t) =

0
_
1
2
exp(.
a
t) sin(.
a
_
1
2
t + o). (2.10)
The transient responses of the overdamped ( 1) and underdamped ( < 1)
cases are shown in Figure 2.4. Lets focus on the underdamped case where
< 1. The decay rate is .
a
t. When .
a
t = 1, the amplitude has decayed
to
1
c
times its original value; if current time is t
1
then the damping ratio is
=
1
.
a
t
1
. (2.11)
2.1 SECOND ORDER SYSTEMS 13
When damping ratio is small, then
.
a
_
1
2
~
= .
a
. (2.12)
and one can calculate from the approximate relation,
=
1
2:(: 1)
ln(
a
). (2.13)
where
1
and
a
are the peak amplitudes measured : 1 cycles apart. Now,
given an estimate for , it is possible to estimate a value for the undamped
natural frequency, .
a
:
.
a
=
2:
1
_
1
2
. (2.14)
Figure 2.4: Transient Response of the mass-spring-damper system.
2.2 Strain Gauges
2.2.1 Strain Sensitivity and Gauge Factor
For most common materials under reasonable loading conditions, there is a
constant ratio between stress and strain. The relationship is then expressed
by Hookes law :
1 =
o
. (2.15)
where:
1 = the modulus of elasticity or Youngs modulus
o = stress
= strain
All electrically conductive materials possess a strain sensitivity, which
is dened as the ratio of the relative change in electrical resistance of a
conductor to the applied relative change in conductor length, or
1
c
=
1,1
0
1,1
0
. (2.16)
where:
1
c
= strain sensitivity factor
1 = resistance change ( )
1
0
= initial conductor resistance ( )
1 = change in length ( mm)
1
0
= initial conductor length ( mm)
Note that 1
c
is a dimensionless quantity, as are both the numerator and
the denominator. The term 1,1
0
= is called the strain. The electrical
resistance of a conductor of uniform cross section behaves according to the
equation:
1 = j(1,). (2.17)
where:
1 = resistance ( )
1 = length of conductor
= cross-sectional area of conductor
j = resistivity constant, a property of the specic conductor material
2.2 STRAIN GAUGES 15
If a straight wire is stretched elastically, the length will increase and the
cross-section will decrease by Poissons ratio, = (1,1),(1,1), where
1 is the diameter of the wire, which is about 30% for most metals used
in electrical resistance wire. From Eq.(2.17), one can see that, provided j
remains constant, the two eects are additive in causing the resistance to
increase. Also notice that
1
1
=
1
1
+

=
1
1
+ 2
1
1
. (2.18)
The overall eect is that the percentage change in the electrical resistance
of the conductor will be 1.6 times greater than the applied strain percentage.
This also means that 1
c
will be about 1.6 for an elastically stretched wire.
For most alloys, the specic resistivity j, is not constant. It is aected by
the applied strain. More precisely, resistivity changes occur when a conductor
is strained because of an elastic distortion of the lattice structure which
inuences electron ow through the conductor. It can be said then that
the resistance change in a conductor is made up of a geometric eect plus a
resistivity change due to the internal state of stress of the conductor. In order
for the overall resistance change of a conductor to be a linear function of the
applied strain, the resistivity change must be proportional to the internal
stress level. This requirement is met by most, but not all metals. Nickel for
example, is very non-linear.
As the conductor is stressed beyond its elastic limit, two eects become
important. First, additional resistivity change due to internal stress will
approach zero. Second, Poissons ratio will approach a value of 50%, which
applies to a constant volume or purely plastic deformation. As a result of
these factors, further changes in resistance of the conductor will be due to
geometric changes only, and 1
c
will approach 2.
As a practical consequence, only alloys that exhibit a strain sensitivity
of 2.0 in the elastic region can exhibit essentially linear behavior over very
large strain ranges.
Strain sensitivity is a basic property of the alloy used in a strain gauge.
When this metal is formed into a grid, and provided with attachment points
for leadwires, the gauge will exhibit a somewhat dierent relationship be-
tween resistance change and applied strain. The term gauge factor (1
j
) is
used to quantify this relationship. It is dened as
1
j
=
1,1
0
1,1
0
=
1,1
0
. (2.19)
where :
1 = resistance change in gauge (ohms)
1
0
= original gauge resistance (ohms)
= strain in the specimen surface under the gauge
Notice that the expressions for 1
c
and 1
j
are identical except that 1,1
0
is measured on a specic gauge/grid design in the case of 1
j
. In most cases,
because of the factors mentioned above, 1
j
= 2.0.
Actually, it is not practical to use any alloy under continuous repetitive
cycling into its plastic range because the strain sensitive alloy will fail in
fatigue. Normal strain-based gauge transducers therefore always operate at
strain levels within the elastic range of the strain gauge alloy.
2.2.2 Practical Gauge Design and Materials
Typical wire strain gauge designs consist of a grid, rather than a single la-
ment as shown in Figure 2.5. This is necessary to achieve the desired gauge
resistance while maintaining a practical lament diameter and overall gauge
length. The grid is attached to a backing material with a bonding adhesive.
The backing material in turn is attached with epoxy to the specimen. Such a
grid behaves as several straight laments connected in series and is therefore
the electrical equivalent of a long, straight, single wire.
There are two undesirable eects of forming this grid. First, each end loop
acts like the end of a single, short bonded lament. This is a disadvantage
because for a single bonded lament, the shear stress is largest at the ends
and is practically zero elsewhere. Because of the additional shear stress, there
is a lack of strain transmission at the end points of a lament which therefore
is a source of error. Secondly, the end loop represents a short but signicant
length of bonded wire at right angles to the desired measuring axis. This will
make the grid somewhat responsive to transverse strains. The degradation
in overall performance that results by forming a grid out of a single long
conductor is most signicant for very short grids which contain a greater
number of end loops.
Wire strain gauges went out of style with the advent of printed circuit
technology. They were replaced by foil strain gauges as shown in Figure 2.6.
Figure 2.5: Single lament strain gauge.
The foil strain gauge is essentially a small printed circuit. Instead of wire
loops, the gauge pattern is etched into a thin sheet of foil of the desired alloy.
The resulting gauge grid cross-section is rectangular instead of circular. The
basic dierences in performance between foil and wire gauges derive from the
following:
1. For the same cross-sectional area, the exposed surface of the foil conduc-
tor is much greater. Correspondingly, less unit shear stress is required
in the backing and adhesive to strain the conductor. As a result, strain
transmission is more complete for foil gauges.
2. A much better thermal path exists between the foil conductor and the
substrate. Foil gauges can therefore operate at considerably higher
power levels.
3. The width of the foil conductor is usually large compared to the thick-
ness of the backing and adhesive layer; therefore, unlike wire gauges,
transverse strains are transmitted to some extent into the active part
of the conductor. Additionally, end loop resistance can be minimized
by using large end tabs on foil gauges.
The most signicant advantage of a foil gauge is that it is much easier
to manufacture. The photo-etching processes used for making foil gauges
Figure 2.6: Construction of a typical metallic foil strain gauge.
permits many identical gauges of exact size and geometry to be formed at
the same time. In contrast, wire gauges must be manufactured by hand,
placing limitations on cost, performance and reproducibility from gauge to
gauge. A wide variety of foil gauge patterns are available as shown in Figure
2.7.
2.2.3 The Wheatstone Bridge
The output of a strain gauge is a resistance change as a function of applied
strain level. At strain sensitivities on the order of 2.0, the resistance changes
will be in the order of hundreds to a few thousand parts per million for strain
levels normally encountered in experimental analysis. Resistance changes of
this magnitude are generally much too low for direct indication by standard
laboratory ohmmeters. It is therefore desirable to employ so called bridge
circuitry to measure small changes in resistance, usually referred to as the
Wheatstone bridge as shown in Figure 2.8.
For readout of a single active strain gauge, it would be conventional prac-
tice for arms 1
1
and 1
C
to consist of precision resistors of equal value.
1
1
would then be a precision potentiometer approximately equal to the un-
Figure 2.7: Diersnt types of foil strain gauges.
strained resistance of strain gauge 1
. Apply the excitation voltage \ to

top and bottom nodes in Figure 2.8, the output voltage c
c
is measured from
c
o
and c
b
nodes, where c
c
= c
o
c
b
.
The currents through c
o
and c
b
are:
i
o
=
\
1
C
+ 1
1
(2.20)
and
i
b
=
\
1
1
+ 1
. (2.21)
i
o
can also be written as,
i
o
=
\ c
o
1
C
. (2.22)
Combine Eq.(2.20) and Eq.(2.22) yield
\ c
o
1
C
=
\
1
C
+ 1
1
. (2.23)
Figure 2.8: Basic Wheatstone bridge conguration.
and c
o
can be expressed in terms of \ , 1
C
, and 1
1
only:
c
o
= \
_
1
1
C
1
C
+ 1
1
_
. (2.24)
Similarly,
c
b
= \
_
1
1
1
1
+ 1
1
_
. (2.25)
So, the output, c
c
, is
c
c
= c
o
c
b
= \
_
1
1
1
C
+ 1
1

1
+ 1
1
_
. (2.26)
and since 1
1
= 1
C
,
c
c
=
\ 1
1
(1
1
1
)
(1
1
+ 1
1
) (1
1
+ 1
)
. (2.27)
Note that c
c
= 0 when the potentiometer, 1
1
is set equal to the strain
gauge resistance, 1
. Under this condition, the bridge is said to be balanced.

Now set 1
1
= 1
and observe the response when 1
changes by a small
amount o1,
c
c
=
\ 1
1
(1
+ o1)
(1
1
+ 1
) (1
1
+ 1
+ o1)
. (2.28)
This can be written in terms of o1,1
,
2.3 FLEXURE ANALYSIS 21
c
c
=
\
b
1
1
1
(1
1
+ 1
)
2
_
o1
1
_
. (2.29)
and from Eq.(2.19) we get
c
c
=
\
b
1
1
1
(1
1
+ 1
)
2
(1
j
) . (2.30)
As the resistance of 1
changes due to applied strain, c

c
will vary in both
polarity and magnitude in accordance with o1. This is sometimes referred
to as the unbalanced, or direct output, bridge and provides a fairly linear
relationship between c
c
and 1
as long as the resistance of 1
does not
change more than about 1%.
In practice, 1
1
may be another strain gauge used as a dummy, or com-
pensating gauge; or may be another strain gauge which experiences equal
strain levels of opposite polarity. Strain gauge based transducers are usually
of the full bridge type, in which all four arms are active gauges. The use of
two or four active arms increases the output signal available from the bridge,
and reduces the nonlinearity which exists when only a single arm is active.
2.3 Flexure Analysis
Consider a simple cantilevered beam in bending as shown in Figure 2.9 (i.e.
steal the equations from your structures book): The bending stress o is
o =
`d
j
1
. (2.31)
where ` is the applied moment, d
j
is the distance measured from neutral
axis, and 1 is the moment of inertia of the beam. The applied moment, `.
is the weight or applied force at the tip of the beam, \, multiplied by the
unsupported length of the beam, 1,
` = \1. (2.32)
The moment of inertia of the beam is 1 =
bI
3
12
, where / is the width of the
beam measured from . direction and / is the height of the beam measured
from direction. The bending stress also can be described as
o = 1. (2.33)
Figure 2.9: Simple cantilevered beam with point load at its tip.
where is the strain and 1 is the Youngs modulus which is the same as
described in Eq.(2.15).
Combine equations above to get :
=
6\1
1//
2
. (2.34)
which is perhaps more commonly written as
=
`d
j
11
. (2.35)
Eq.(2.35) can be thought about in terms of two components that determine
how the strain, , depends on the applied moment, `. Here
1
oy
is the section
modulus which is a geometric parameter, and 11 is the exural stiness.
So, using a strain gauge to monitor the strain, which is directly propor-
tional to the applied moment as in Eq.(2.35), we can measure the static
response of the beam to an applied load. For the purposes of measuring
the frequency response, one can model the vibration of a cantilevered beam
as a second order system. A damped second order system response can be
characterized by two parameters, the undamped natural frequency, .
a
, and
the damping ratio, , as shown in the previous section. By measuring the
frequency and amplitude decay in free vibration, both parameters can be
estimated by experiment.
2.4 EXPERIMENT 23
BUT ....... enquiring minds might want to know: Why? What does
the damping ratio correspond to, physically? Why should the damping be
proportional to the velocity? Why is it like viscous damping? Think.
2.4 Experiment
2.4.1 Measurement of Microstrain in a Second Order
Mechanical System
General Background and Procedure
Many dierent mechanical systems can be set up to demonstrate damped,
second order systems. A cantilevered beam with attached strain gauges is
one of the simplest. Two strain gauges have been mounted on the beam a
few centimeters from one end. Since the resistances of the gauges change
only slightly, they must be incorporated in a Wheatstone bridge circuit, as
shown in Figure 2.10, so that small changes in the resistance are converted
to measurable changes in the voltage. A Sensotec SA-B analog amplier, or
its digital successor SC-1000, will be used to provide a 10 V1C excitation
to the Wheatstone bridge as well as amplify the output of the bridge. Leads
to and from the bridge should be connected to the SA-B unit as shown in
Figure 2.11.
The cantilevered beamshould be attached to the work bench as illustrated
on the whiteboard. Using known weights, the strain gauge can be calibrated
for forces applied to the end of the beam. Then the dynamic response to a
non-zero initial displacement can be measured for two cases: the un-loaded
beam and beam with a mass at the end. With sucient care, measurements
of the beam geometry and mass allow theoretical predictions to be made for
the undamped natural frequencies of the system, and these can be compared
with measurements.
Detailed Experimental Procedure
1. Measure the resistance of each strain gauge. They should all be ap-
proximately either 120 or 350.
2. Pick up proper resistors for your Wheatstone bridge circuit and measure
their values.
Figure 2.10: Wheatstone Bridge setup.
3. Using the C-clamp and the small piece of aluminum, clamp the beam
to the counter as shown on the whiteboard. Be sure not to clamp
down on either the strain gauges or the electrical connecting
wires. Measure the un-supported beam length after the clamp is se-
cured. Dont forget to re-measure it if you change the clamp location
at any time.
4. Build the Wheatstone bridge circuit with proper resistors, connecting
the strain gauges as shown in Figure 2.10. Make very sure that all
connectors are stable and tight.
5. Measure the excitation voltage from the SA-Bs power supply. Black
is ground and red is nominal +10 V1C. Connect the power supply to
the bridge.
6. Connect the bridge output to the DMM. Check if increasing loads out-
put increasing voltages. If not, switch the output polarity. Balance
the bridge by adjusting the 10 potentiometer so that the output is
0.000 mV!!!
7. Now, re-connect the bridge output to the amplier input.
8. Connect the amplier output to the DMM and zero the amp output
by adjusting the coarse and ne zero adjustment screws on the front
2.4 EXPERIMENT 25
Figure 2.11: Sensotec SA-B power supply/amplier.
panel of the analog box or press the TARE button on the front panel
of the digital box. Do not touch the gain screw. The resting out-
put will be drifting by some amount due primarily to uncompensated
temperature uctuations. Observe these on VScope. Do not panic.
Make sure the uctuations are approximately around a mean value of
0 V, and then simply design your procedures for the remainder of the
lab accordingly.
9. Calibrate the strain gauge using the platform and the weights provided
(bolts). Add the weights, one by one, and record the static response
as a function of the applied force. Do not exceed a mass of ap-
proximately 400 g as you might bend the beam permanently.
Add the weights carefully, one by one and make the voltage readings
quickly. Then do an unloading curve, by measuring the voltage output
when removing the weights, one-by-one. With practice, the entire cali-
bration procedure can be done in a matter of minutes. So, if something
goes wrong, then do it again until the results are consistent.
10. Deect the beam at its tip up or down about 1 to 2 centimeters and
release. Observe the output of the amplier on Vscope. You should see
a damped sine wave. Digitize, save and plot the time response so you
can determine and .
a
. Add a known mass (clamp) to the end of the
beam and repeat. You will then be able to determine the new and
.
a
.
11. Check your saved data les very carefully using Excel BEFORE leav-
ing lab. Also, dont forget to have one of the lab sta members sign
your lab notebook BEFORE leaving lab.
Beam Bending Theory
The natural frequency of vibration of a cantilevered beam can be written as:
For the beam only
1
,
.
a
= 3.516
_
11
:|
4
. (2.36)
and for the beam and clamp
2
,
.
a
=
_
311
`|
3
. (2.37)
where
.
a
= natural frequency
1 = Youngs modulus ( N, m
2
)
1 = moment of inertia ( m
4
)
| = unsupported length of beam ( m)
: = mass of beam per unit length ( kg, m)
` = `
c|onj
+ (`
bcon
,3) for case with clamp ( kg)
1 can be calculated from
1 =
//
3
12
(2.38)
where / is the width, and /, the height, of the beam. If the beam is composed
solely of aluminum, then 1 is 6.9 10
10
N, m
2
.
Thus, from careful measurements of the dimensions of the beam and
the masses of the beam and clamp, two estimates of .
a
can be made from
Eq.(2.36) and Eq.(2.37). How do these values compare with the values ob-
served directly from the dynamic response? Remember, you need measure-
ments of the uncertainties in order to estimate this. How do the measure-
ments of compare with some reference value? Are they the same, or dier-
ent when .
a
changes?
1
p.420. Steidel, R.F. (1989), An Introduction to Mechanical Vibrations, Wiley.
2
p.92. Steidel, R.F. (1989), An Introduction to Mechanical Vibrations, Wiley.
2.4 EXPERIMENT 27
2.4.2 An Engineering Spreadsheet Report
The report from the strain gauge experiment will be in the form of a single
spreadsheet le. The purpose of the spreadsheet will be to present the quan-
titative results of the experiment, stating simple conclusions deriving from
this comparison. The spreadsheet will be graded from paper and electronic
copies according to the following criteria:
1. Logic and clarity of the layout.
Clear presentation of raw data
Clear calculations of derived quantities
Clear, labelled and legible plots of time response, static calibra-
tion, referred to when used in calculations.
Clear statements of fact or conclusions from experiment and the-
ory
2. Completeness of data/calculations
Sucient number of data points?
Derived quantities identied and calculated, together with useful
intermediate steps?
3. Flexibility of spreadsheet calculations
If a variable is changed, does the change propagate through the
calculations?
Are variable quantities identied?
4. Uncertainty analysis
Technically correct?
Used to compare numbers and make statements of fact?
5. Control of numbers
Appropriate precision.
Units correct and identied.
6. Graphics
Technically correct (lines, symbols, labels, units)
Control of format decisions rather than defaults.
7. On time
The goal of the spreadsheet is much the same as that of a formal report
to tell a story based on experimental ndings, and to make comparisons
with appropriate theoretical models. Note that both paper and electronic
copies will be used for grading pay attention to the layout and appearance
of both.
Remember some of the techniques introduced last semester. Here it will
quite useful to name cell variables, and to use formatting to outline and iden-
tify dierent parts of the spreadsheet. Name the worksheets appropriately
and remove unused ones.
When youre done, print out all relevant pages of the spreadsheet (maybe
2-3 of these, formatted deliberately and carefully for printing and reading)
+ graphs. Staple them together and hand the paper copies in together with
the electronic version. All materials will be returned in one week.
2.4.3 Important Reminder
You must do your own work. It is very important that every part of this
exercise comes from your eorts alone, from design of the write-up, to design
of the plots to choice of topics to write about. The only data you share with
your lab partner are the columns of numbers that were written in your lab
book or saved in Excel. All plots, tables and gures for the report must be
generated by yourself, from scratch.
For those who are used to working together on problems, or nd them-
selves side-by-side at their computers, then you must enforce an articial
separation of your eorts. It will seem a bit unfriendly, and as though you
are now competing against each other, but you are not, because an absolute
normalized scale is not imposed in the nal grades. We just want to see what
each of you has learned, individually, to make sure that you have all learned
it.
2.4 EXPERIMENT 29
It is not so relevant to this lab in particular, but we will follow this general
rule in 341: do not ever copy-paste material unless you are copying
it from your own work. Copy-pasting from your own Excel spreadsheet
to your own Word document will be common, but will be the only form of
this we allow.
The recommended penalty from Student Judicial Aairs and Community
Standards for breach of such conduct codes is F for the course. This will
be imposed and paperwork will be sent to SJACS after an initial meeting
between the student(s) and professor. The same penalty will be given to
those from whom work is copied as for those who copy it.
Chapter 3
Heat Transfer and
Thermocouples
3.1 Denitions
A thermocouple is a simple device for measuring temperature. Two metals
(wires) of dierent composition are joined (welded or soldered together) at
one end and thats it! They produce a small voltage between the open ends
that is proportional to the temperature that the joint is exposed to.
The operation of a thermocouple can be understood by remembering two
basic principles:
1. When two dissimilar metals are in contact, their dierent anities for
free electrons produces a small current across the junction as shown in
Figure 3.1.
2. The magnitude of the dierence varies with temperature as shown in
Figure 3.2.
The voltage produced is small, on the order of a few millivolts, so it
requires amplication.
The metals used are alloys that are specially formulated to maximize
the emf output, i.e., maximize sensitivity.
The standard conguration is often denoted as in Figure 3.3.
31
32 CHAPTER 3 HEAT TRANSFER AND THERMOCOUPLES
Figure 3.1: Two dissimilar metals in contact produce a small electric current
across the junction under temperature 1
1
.
Note that if 1
1
= 1
2
, both thermocouples will produce the same emf
but with opposite sign, so the total emf will be zero.
If the circuit is opened, and 1
1
,= 1
2
, there will be an emf across the
terminals as in Figure 3.4.
The second thermocouple is not strictly necessary, but is useful as a
reference junction. It is usually kept at 0
C.
3.2 Useful Properties
3.2.1 Law of Intermediate Metals (LIM)
The introduction of a third metal into the circuit does not aect the emf,
provided 1 is uniform across all the junctions.
3.2.2 Practical Consequences of LIM
Consider how the thermocouple is constructed. Solder sits between the
two metals. Essentially, this creates 2 thermocouples, one of Metal
3.2 USEFUL PROPERTIES 33
Figure 3.2: Two dissimilar metals are in contact produce a larger elcectric
current across the junction under higher temperature 1
2
.
and the solder, and another of Metal 1 and the solder as shown in
Figure 3.5. The output emf then is 1
S
+ 1
S1
= 1
1
.
Another pair of thermocouple junctions are created when the thermo-
couple wires are attached to electrical wires (Cu). It is important that
those junctions are kept at the same temperature so that the net emf
they produce is zero as shown in Figure 3.6.
It is also possible to use one single thermocouple junction, with the
measuring device acting as the reference junction as in Figure 3.7. Pro-
vided the temperature is uniform across the connecting terminals, and
provided this temperature does not change, then the single thermocou-
ple can be calibrated for use in measuring an arbitrary temperature.
3.2.3 Law of Intermediate Temperatures (LIT)
LIT does not require the thermocouple response to be linear with tem-
perature.
Furthermore, it allows the use of reference tables, based on standard
temperatures.
Figure 3.3: Standard conguration of a thermocouple.
3.3 Static Calibration
Determine the thermocouple composition by nding its sensitivity ( mV,
C)
and comparing with published values of common types of thermocou-
ples.
Vary temperature of water in a beaker from (close to) 0
C to 100
C.
Keep track of temperature with a thermometer and record thermocou-
ple output at 5
C increments.
Do the same while decreasing temperature from 100
C to about 30
C.
3.4 Dynamic Response
How quickly can the thermocouple respond to changes in temperature?
Find time constant by measuring the response to stepwise change in
temperature. The larger the temperature change, the better the esti-
mate will be. So dunk the bead from one extreme to another. Water
3.4 DYNAMIC RESPONSE 35
Figure 3.4: Open circuit conguration of a thermocouple.
is convenient (more convenient than air, for example; why?), so switch
from 0
C 100
C.
Consider an ideal thermocouple bead as in Figure 3.12:
3.4.1 Conservation of Energy
Conservation of energy: Rate of increase of energy in a volume = ux of heat
across its boundaries.
1. If we assume that, within the boundary, the material behaves as a single
entity i.e. there are no gradients in 1(t), then the energy balance can
be written:
d(energy)
dt
=
d
dt
(:C
j
1(t)) = :C
j
d1(t)
dt
. (3.1)
where C
j
is the mass-specic, constant pressure heat coecient in unit
[ J, ( kg
C)].
2. Further, assume negligible heat ux along the wires.
Figure 3.5: A thermocouple is constructed by two metals soldering together
at their tips.
3. Assume that all heat exchange is through convective heat transfer with
surrounding uid (ignore radiative heat transfer).
The heat ux will depend on the exposed surface area, o, the temper-
ature dierence at the surface, and how ecient is the exchange process
(/ =convective heat transfer coecient):
c&t
(t) = /[1(t) 1
1
(t)]o. (3.2)
ia
(t) = /[1(t) 1
1
(t)]o. (3.3)
where . : 0 for net ux out. Therefore,
:C
j
d1(t)
dt
= /[1(t) 1
1
(t)]o. (3.4)
Now, substitute for the geometry of a sphere with diameter d,
j
tI
4
3
:d
3
8
C
j
d1(t)
dt
+ /:d
2
1(t) = /:d
2
1
1
(t). (3.5)
Eq.(3.5) divide by /:d
2
, yields
_
j
tI
dC
j
6/
_
d1(t)
dt
+ 1(t) = 1
1
(t). (3.6)
This is a linear rst order dierential equation with characteristic time con-
stant t =
j
th
oCp
6I
. [Does this have units of time? Do a sanity check, just in
case. / has SI units in Watts per meter squared-kelvin [ W,( m
2
K)].
Figure 3.6: A pair of thermocouples attach to copper electrical wires to
connect to measuring devices.
3.4.2 Solution of First Order System for Step-Function
Forcing
Recall the general solution for rst order systems,
t
d1(t)
dt
+ 1(t) = 1
1
(t). (3.7)
which was composed of two parts, the complementary function and the par-
ticular integral. The step function can be written as
t _ 0 1
1
(t) = 1
1
.
t 0 1
1
(t) = 1
2
. (3.8)
where 1
1
and 1
2
are constants. The output is
t _ 0 1(t) = 1
1
.
t 0 1(t) =?. (3.9)
Figure 3.7: Single thermocouple attaches to copper electrical wires to connect
to measuring devices.
1
1
is the starting temperature and the rst order system can be rewritten in
terms of temperature dierences:
t _ 0 t
d (1 (t) 1
1
)
dt
+ (1 (t) 1
1
) = 0.
t 0 t
d (1 (t) 1
1
)
dt
+ (1 (t) 1
1
) = (1
2
1
1
) . (3.10)
The solution to the homogeneous equation (recall 1:t Order System notes)
has the form,
(1 (t) 1
1
) = exp(
t
t
). (3.11)
Now, nd the particular solution for 1Ho = (1
2
1
1
). It is a constant,
(1 (t) 1
1
) = (1
2
1
1
) . (3.12)
Therefore, 1 (t) = 1
2
. The temperature dierence at any time t is 1(t) 1
1
,
and can be written as a function of the complementary and particular parts
of the general solution,
Figure 3.8: Diagrams showing law of intermediate temperatures.
(1 (t) 1
1
) = exp(
t
t
) + (1
2
1
1
) . (3.13)
Now apply initial condition 1(0) = 1
1
to Eq.(3.13),
0 = + (1
2
1
1
) .
The value of can be solved as
= (1
2
1
1
) . (3.14)
Substitute Eq.(3.14) into Eq.(3.13), yields
(1 (t) 1
1
) = (1
2
1
1
)
_
1 exp(
t
t
)
_
. (3.15)
The step response of Eq.(3.10) has solution described by Eq.(3.15) as
shown in Figure 3.13.
3.4.3 Meanwhile, Back in the Lab...
The time constant, t, can be measured, and is related to the geometry and
properties of the thermocouple bead as described in Eq.(3.4) and Eq.(3.6)
by:
Figure 3.9: A pair of thermocouple junctions output 1 = 4.277 mV when
one end has temperature 0
C and the other end has temperature 100
C.
t = j
tI
1
6
d
C
j
/
=
:C
j
/o
. (3.16)
The static calibration allows the composition of the thermocouple bead to
be estimated, and j
tI
and C
j
can then be looked up in tables provided in lab
notes. So, we can measure d (rather approximately) and calculate / as,
/ =
j
tI
dC
j
6t
. (3.17)
The step response can be measured going from coldhot, or hotcold.
That gives us two measurements of the time constant, t. If we do both:
1. Do we get the same answer?
2. Would we expect to?
3. Presumably, j
tI
, C
j
and d do not change, so what might?
4. Just exactly what is this /-thing anyway? Figure 3.18 shows that
/ = /(1
c
).
5. Why would 1
c
change with temperature?
6. If we can estimate 1
c
, then do our estimates of / agree with Figure
3.18?
3.5 EXPERIMENT 41
Figure 3.10: A pair of thermocouple junctions output 1 = 3.488 mV when
one end has temperature 20
C and the other end has temperature 100
C.
3.5 Experiment
3.5.1 Thermocouples and Heat Transfer
Introduction
One of the simplest devices for measuring temperature is a thermocouple,
which consists only of a junction between two dierent metals. As the tem-
perature of the junction changes, the attraction of the dierent metals for the
free electrons in the junction varies. As one metal attracts more electrons,
an electromotive force is produced. This force is of the order of several milli-
volts for typical metals used in thermocouples and the emf is approximately
linear over a broad range of temperatures. Because of its simplicity, near-
indestructability (this is not a challenge), and low cost, the thermocouple is
very popular for measuring temperature in many environments.
Static Calibration
Whenever the sensitivity of an instrument is unknown, it must be determined
either by estimation or by calibration. The accuracy of any experiment is
improved if a reliable calibration can be obtained. The thermocouple can be
calibrated by varying the junction through a range of known temperatures
and plotting this against the observed emf.
Figure 3.11: Thermocouples emf output due to temperature changes in in-
creasing temperature(heating) and decreasing temperature(cooling).
Procedure
1. Place a beaker of ice water on the ring stand and immerse the ther-
mocouple bead in it. Note that the emf produced can be amplied
and read on the VScope as shown in Figure 3.14. The ice water now
provides the rst data point on the static calibration curve as shown
in Figure 3.15:
2. Light the Bunsen burner and place it under the beaker of ice water
containing the thermocouple. Read the temperature of the water with
a thermometer while continually stirring with the stirring stick (do not
use the thermometer to stir as it breaks easily). As the water is heated,
record the temperature from the thermometer and the DC voltage on
VScope at approximately 5
C intervals between 0 and 100
C. When
plotted as in Figure 3.15, a reasonably straight line should result.
3. After reaching the boiling point, add small amounts of ice to the water
and decrease the temperature while recording the emf. Cool the water
back down to 25
C or so. Do the data points agree with your previous

calibration or is there some hysteresis?
3.5 EXPERIMENT 43
Figure 3.12: A sphere thermocouple bead connects two metals.
Figure 3.13: Step response of a 1:t order system.
Dynamic Response
In the static calibration, it was inherently assumed that the thermocouple
always had the same temperature as the water. That is, there was never any
time lag between the actual temperature of the water and the emf voltage.
This approximation is only valid when the temperature of the environment
changes slowly, because the voltage due to the thermocouple does not re-
spond instantaneously to the applied temperature. The heat lost by the
thermocouple is
Figure 3.14: Small voltage output from thermocouple is amplied before
acquisition and analysis in VScope.
(t) = :C
j
d1(t)
dt
. (3.18)
where : is the mass of the thermocouple, C
j
is the constant-pressure specic
heat, and 1 is the temperature. Neglecting the conduction through the
thermocouple wires, the heat is primarily lost to the environment according
to
(t) = /o(1(t) 1
1
(t)). (3.19)
where / is the convective heat transfer coecient, o is the surface area of
the thermocouple and 1
1
(t) is the environment temperature. Combining
Eq.(3.18) and Eq.(3.19) yields
t
d1(t)
dt
+ 1(t) = 1
1
(t). (3.20)
3.5 EXPERIMENT 45
Figure 3.15: Construction of a static calibration curve for thermocouple.
where t =
nCp
IS
is the time constant. Eq.(3.20) is identical to Eq.(3.7),
when starting from initial environment temperature 1
1
(t) = 1
1
and sud-
denly jumping to another environment temperature 1
1
(t) = 1
2
, the output
temperature 1(t) becomes
1 (t) = 1
2
(1
2
1
1
) exp(
t
t
). (3.21)
If the output voltage of the thermocouple is linearly related to the tempera-
ture by the sensitivity :, i.e., c(t) = :1(t), then Eq.(3.21) becomes
c(t) = :1 (t) = :1
2
: (1
2
1
1
) exp(
t
t
). (3.22)
Therefore,
c(t) = c
2
(c
2
c
1
) exp(
t
t
). (3.23)
where c
1
is the voltage output when the thermocouple measures the initial
environment temperature 1
1
(t) = 1
1
, and c
2
is the voltage output when the
thermocouple measures the new environment temperature 1
1
(t) = 1
2
. In
other words, if 1
1
(t) is a step function, then the thermocouple emf follows
it exponentially as in Eq.(3.23) and shown in Figure 3.16.
As seen in equations (3.20) . (3.21) and (3.23), the thermocouple behaves
as a rst order system. As with all such systems, the dynamic response
Figure 3.16: Step response of the thermocouple.
is completely determined by the time constant, t, and once this quantity
is measured, some interesting characteristics of the physics of heat transfer
in moving uids can be inferred. The step response can be measured by
rapidly transferring the thermocouple bead between containers of water held
at dierent, and xed, temperatures.
Detailed Experimental Procedure
1. Set up the equipment as shown in Figure 3.14.
2. (Re-)Familiarize yourself with the use of the Op-Amps amplier and
VScope.
3. Verify that the gain of the amplier is ~ 100 using a signal from the
function generator and measure its exact value from the DMM.
4. Connect the thermocouple to the op-amp input. Heat up a beaker
about 1,3 full of water and have another, also about 1,3 full, with ice
3.5 EXPERIMENT 47
water. Check the response of the thermocouple and set the VScope
controls to useful values. The temperature of the ice-water mix will be
very nearly 0
C, that of boiling water will be 100
C. Take 5 pairs of
data points, recording the voltage output of the thermocouple at these
two reference points. This helps to debug the set-up and later to check
and verify the calibration curve data.
5. Do the static calibration described in earlier section. Start with the
ice-water used above. Take care over the physical set-up, making sure
that various instruments are not touching the glass beaker, for example,
and making sure that you are not setting your partners hair on re,
for another example. Do both loading and unloading curves, i.e. for
positive and negative temperature changes.
6. Prepare a second beaker of water, and observe and record the transient
response as the thermocouple is transferred from boiling water to ice
water and vice versa.
7. When all data has been collected, measure the bead diameter, d, to-
gether with a realistic estimate of the uncertainty in this measurement.
Also make sure that some measure of the bead speed,
b
, can be made,
either from the time traces themselves, or by timing a typical experi-
ment and measuring the ight path length. Once again, make a realistic
numerical estimate of the uncertainty.
Later on..
1. The slope of the calibration curve allows you to deduce the composition
of the thermocouple by comparing with reference curves in Figure 3.17.
The thermocouple will be one of Type 1, 1, J or 1. Remember to
take into account the gain of the amplier, as the reference curves are
for un-amplied output.
2. Assume a 50 : 50 mix of the two alloys, and calculate C
j
for the ther-
mocouple bead.
3. Calculate the time constant, t, from both sets of transient responses
(hot to cold, and cold to hot). Are they the same?
4. From t, and the bead diameter, d, it is now possible to calculate the
heat transfer coecient /. So do it. If there are two values of t, then
there will also be two values of /. That means it is not a constant.
Why not?
Given estimates of
b
, then the curve-t of empirical data in the litera-
ture in Figure 3.18 allows independent estimates for / to be made for the
appropriate 1
c
for the ice- and boiling water cases. Does / depend on the
temperature 1? Are these values of / consistent with those derived from the
step responses?
Useful Tables
Nomenclature
t = time constant
: = mass of bead
C
j
= constant-pressure specic heat
o = surface area of bead
/ = convective heat transfer coecient
b
= speed of bead entering water
d = diameter of thermocouple bead
/ = thermal conductivity of water
i =
j
j
= kinematic viscosity of water
1
c
=
u
b
o
i
= Ratio of inertial to viscous forces in ow over bead
`
&
=
Io
I
= Eciency of heat exchange by convection vs. conduction
Some useful numbers
1

C i ( cm
2
, s) / ( J, cm s

C)
0 1.787 10
2
5.6 10
3
100 0.295 10
2
6.7 10
3
3.5 EXPERIMENT 49
C
j
values of dierent materials
Material C
j
( J, g

C)
Al .900
Cr .460
Cu .385
Fe .452
Mn .482
Ni .440
Density of common thermocouple metals, alloys, and their compositions
Stu Density( g, cm
3
)
Pure Metals
Iron (Fe) 7.9
Nickel (Ni) 8.9
Manganese (Mn) 7.47
Molybdenum (Mo) 10.2
Aluminium (Al) 2.71
Copper (Cu) 8.93
Silver (Ag) 10.5
Gold (Au) 19.3
Tungsten (W) 19.25
Platinum (Pt) 21.45
Rhodium (Rh) 12.42
Chromium (Cr) 7.14
Platinum Alloys
PtRh(10%) 19.95
Nickel Alloys
Constantan (Cu(55%) Ni(45%)) 8.86
Chromel(Ni(90%) Cr(10%)) 8.73
Alumel(Ni(95%) Mn(2%) Al(2%)) 8.6
Note: Missing entries can be looked up at http://www.webelements.com/
3.5.2 Sometime Later, Furiously Report-Writing.....
This experiment, and accompanying report, can be complex. Start
with an outline.
3.5 EXPERIMENT 51
The objective of the experiment is to investigate and characterize the
response of a thermocouple bead.
Keep details of procedure to the minimum required. What must the
reader know to repeat the same experiment?
Keep results section free of interpretation. Just put what you got.
The questions in the notes above are prompting you for physical ex-
planations of the phenomena you observe. How can we understand the
thermocouple results in terms of the physics of heat transfer, and uid
motion?
it.
this we allow.
Figure 3.17: Calibration curves of dierent type thermocouples.
3.5 EXPERIMENT 53
Figure 3.18: Least-squares t to experimental data for heat transfer from a
sphere over a large range of Reynolds numbers.
55
56 CHAPTER 4 FLUID FLOW AND TURBULENCE
Chapter 4
Fluid Flow and Turbulence
4.1 Fluid Turbulence and Jet Flows
4.1 FLUID TURBULENCE AND JET FLOWS 57
Opening Ceremonies, Olympic Games Sydney 2000. (LA times)
4.1.1 Jets: Applications and denitions
Denition 1 A jet is a ow produced by a pressure drop across an orice.
Examples:
Aircraft propulsion
Rocket propulsion
Fuel injectors in ICE
Chimneys, smoke stacks, car exhaust
Air-conditioning vents
Sprays - perfume, hair, medical, re extinguishers, terrorist activities
Two major areas of concern:
1. Propulsion
2. Mixing (may be related to #1)
Jets are one type of a very widespread class of uid ows known as
boundary-free shear ows, which evolve in space and time due either to ex-
ternal gradients (in temperature or pressure), or may evolve themselves.
Three types of free-shear ows: a wake, a jet, and a shear layer. (Tennekes
& Lumley, 1972)
Free-shear ows are:
Evolving in space and time.
Very important in many technological applications.
Very hard to study.
Very poorly understood.
Free-shear ows are almost always turbulent. (Non-turbulent ows can
be regarded as artifacts of theoreticians and wind-tunnels.)
4.1.2 Turbulence
Characteristics of turbulence:
Complex, irregular ow.
Large, continuous range of scales.
Highly dissipative - viscous shear stresses dissipate kinetic energy.
Highly diusive - good for mixing.
1
c
is large.
Mathematically intractable.
Note: Mix analytical tools with physical reasoning/assumptions, based
on experimental evidence.
4.1.3 Time-Averaged Quantities and Universal Statis-
tical States
Postulate: Turbulence evolves with complex motions over many time and
length scales, which interact with each other locally to produce a dynamically
self-similar state, where only local scales of length and velocity matter. Such
a state is called fully developed turbulence. It has reached a state of dynamic
equilibrium, where local forces and time scales only are important. It is
universal. One patch of turbulence is very much like another, and they can
be re-scaled so their properties (energy dissipation, mixing,...) are equivalent.
Note that all of the above is really a postulate, and not a proven fact. It
is also correct only in a statistical sense. The individual detailed variations
in turbulent ows defy any such simplications. It is possible to demonstrate
that self-similar solutions to simplied equations of motion exist. It is not
Figure 4.1: Evolution of a plane turbulent jet. (Tennekes & Lumley, 1972)
possible to show that they must exist in real life. Instead, one looks for
evidence of the existence of such solutions in experiment.
In practice, the circular jet is governed by a single length scale, its diam-
eter, 1, and the average strength is related to some time-averaged velocity,
l.
If the ow is self-similar, then it should be possible to rescale velocity
proles by using the characteristic local scales shown in Figure 4.3.
The
1
2
point denes a characteristic point on the bell-shaped velocity
prole, proportional to its width. If the prole were Gaussian, then one
could also use the Gaussian half-width. The magnitude, l
max
, is simply the
highest point of the curve.
Now, the argument goes: if the physical mechanism, the ow dynamics,
are self-similar, then self-similar ow proles should be observed. One shape
ts all. The prole shape does not change, only its relative scales in and
l as r increases. l
max
will decrease and
1
2
will increase. This being the
case, if each prole is rescaled by equivalent measures of local length and
Figure 4.2: Coordinate system for turbulent jet ow.
velocity, then the resulting normalized prole should be universal, describing
all proles at all locations in the jet. Figure 4.4 shows an example, taken
from some lab data, where the
1
2
point was used to dene a new r coor-
dinate, r
, as described in further detail in the lab handout. The proles

collapse, within experimental uncertainty, when rescaled this way. They all
have the same shape. Thus, the self-similarity hypothesis is supported in this
case. Moreover, if another application showed similar data (a smokestack,
for example), then the lab results could be rescaled to t and/or predict
that data too. This could be very important if it proves dicult to make
such detailed measurements in the real smokestack, or at large numbers of r
locations (both are likely).
4.1.4 Dimensional Analysis and the Reynolds Number
Solutions to systems of equations that describe possible physical sys-
tems are dimensionally homogeneous.
Solutions are therefore invariant to change in units.
A solution is similar if the dimensionless groups are equal in magnitude.
(Buckingham-Pi theorem)
Figure 4.3: Dening a local measure of the jet width in l().
For a given set of boundary and initial conditions, the only dimension-
less group for incompressible ow in a homogeneous uid is Reynolds
number, 1
c
.
The Navier-Stokes equation relate the physical variables: r, n, j, and j,
where r and n are the physical coordinate and velocity respectively of a uid
element with density (mass per unit volume) j, and viscosity j. The physical
units are `, 1, and 1. Consequently, there are 4 3 = 1 dimensionless
groups made up of these quantities. This is the Reynolds number,
1
c
=
jn|
j
. (4.1)
or, commonly written as:
1
c
=
n|
i
. (4.2)
where
i =
j
j
. (4.3)
is called the kinematic viscosity. If two ows have the same 1
c
, then they
are dynamically similar. The balance of forces is identical. This is the only
requirement for geometrically similar problems in uids.
Figure 4.4: Self-similarity in turbulent jet proles.
4.1.5 Practical Examples
Cigarettes
| - 2 cm 2 cm
n - 10 cm, s 1 m, s
1
c
-
102
0.15
~
= 140
1002
0.15
~
= 1400
Smoke-Stack
| - 10 m
n - 1 m, s
1
c
-
10
3
10
2
0.15
~
= 10
6
Flow is very turbulent. (meaning?)
Figure 4.5: Thermal plume caused by heating of earth surface. Estimate 1
c
.
Rules of Thumb
i
oiv
= 0.15 cm
2
, s
i
&otcv
= 0.01 cm
2
, s

i
oiv
i
&otcv
- 15.
Example
Check the Reynolds numbers, 1
c
, of two dierent jet conditions in the fol-
lowing table:
d n 1
c
Jet in air 10 cm 1.0 m, s ?
Jet in water 7 cm 10 cm, s ?
.
You may apply the following rule of thumb,
1
c
air
= 7 n( cm, s) |( cm)
1
cwater
= 100 n( cm, s) |( cm)
.
What can you conclude from above calculations?
Interesting Corollaries
The ows are (dynamically) identical (not just kinda sorta the same-
ish).
full-scale model/tests are not always required.
We can do experiments on hair dryers!
Aerospace engineers sometimes use water channels.
4.1.6 Dynamic Pressure - How to Measure n from j?
Principles of the Pitot Tube
The dividing streamline arrives at 1 in Figure 4.6, where the ow comes
to rest, and so n = n
0
= 0. The total pressure is the sum of the static
and dynamic pressures, and must be constant along a streamline. Hence, at
points and 1 in Figure 4.6 along the streamline,
j
+
1
2
jn
2
= j
1
+
1
2
jn
2
1
. (4.4)
At 1 in Figure 4.6, n
1
= n
0
= 0. Denote the pressure at 1 as j
0
. At C
in Figure 4.6, the measured pressure is the static pressure (only), and since
j
c
~
= j
1
,
1
2
jn
2
1
= j
0
j
c
. (4.5)
and so,
n
2
1
=
2 (j
0
j
c
)
j
. (4.6)
Assumptions are:
Figure 4.6: Dividing streamline ow over a pitot tube.
Direction is straight.
Flow is attached, and parallel.
Flow is incompressible.
4.2 Experiment
4.2.1 Pressure/Velocity Measurements in a Turbulent
Jet
Jets
A jet is formed by ow issuing from a nozzle into ambient uid, which can
be either moving or at rest. A jet is a fundamental ow conguration with
many practical applications, e.g. propulsion, combustion, various chemically-
reacting ows, mixing of temperature and pollutants, and chemical lasers.
The velocity at the exit of the nozzle of a typical laboratory jet has
a smooth prole and a low turbulence level, about 0.1~0.5% of the mean
centerline velocity. In practical cases, the turbulence can be as much as 20%,
4.2 EXPERIMENT 67
but the basic ow properties observed in a clean laboratory jet can still be
generalized and applied to real world problems.
Due to the velocity dierence between the jet and the ambient uid, a
thin shear layer is created. Fluid from the jet and from the ambient mix in-
side the shear layer. In the central portion of the ow, there is a region with
almost uniform mean speed, called the potential core. Due to entrainment
of the outside uid, the jet spreads in the streamwise direction as shown in
Figure 4.7. Eventually, the potential core disappears at a distance of about
ve diameters downstream of the nozzle.The entrainment process continues
Figure 4.7: Regions of a jet.
further downstream, but the rate of spreading is dierent from that observed
upstream of the potential core. The velocity distributions in the region down-
stream of the potential core have a bell-shaped prole as shown in Figure
4.8.
11
2
is dened as the distance between the jet axis and the location where
the velocity equals half of the maximum velocity, l
0
. The cross-stream
location of this characteristic point can be used to measure the thickness
of the jet prole. The bell-shaped velocity proles can be thought of as
if they originate from a single point, called the virtual origin. The virtual
origin is determined by joining the 11
2
points and extrapolating to the A
axis. At some distance from the jet exit, the turbulent jet proles collapse
onto a single curve when the axis is normalized with A as shown in Figure
4.9. At this point, the jet is said to have reached the self-similar region;
this usually occurs about 6 to 8 jet diameters, 1, downstream from the
nozzle. The fact that the proles are self-similar and collapse when scaled
with local l
0
and A, implies that only local length and velocity scales are
Figure 4.8: Velocity proles of a jet.
important in determining the uid dynamics. The fully-developed, turbulent
ow thus has certain universal scaling characteristics that do not depend
on the initial generating conditions. When true, the practical consequence
is that reasonable predictions can be made concerning the mean properties
and evolution of an extremely complicated and poorly understood ow (uid
turbulence was identied, rst in 1948, and then again in 1995, as one of the
great unsolved applied physics problems).
Pitot-Static Tubes
The Pitot-static tube (also called a Prandtl tube) is one of the most common
instruments for measuring the mean velocity of a ow eld. The device
consists of two coaxial tubes as shown in Figure 4.10, one is open at the
tip and measures the total pressure or Pitot pressure.Another is open at the
surface and measures the static pressure. The basic principle used in the
Pitot tube is given by Bernoullis equation,
j
t
j
c
=
1
2
j
oiv
l
2
. (4.7)
4.2 EXPERIMENT 69
Figure 4.9: Self-similar region velocity prole after normalization.
where
j
oiv
= density of air,
j
c
= static pressure,
j
t
= total pressure,
l = freestream velocity.
The ow stagnates as it reaches the tip, and the velocity can be measured
from the pressure dierence,
l =
_
2 (j
t
j
c
)
j
. (4.8)
Manometers
A manometer is an instrument used for measuring pressure as shown in
Figure 4.11. The pressure dierence, j
t
j
c
, is equal to the weight of the
liquid column between point 1 and point ,
j
t
j
c
= j
0
q/. (4.9)
where j
0
is the density of the manometer uid.
Figure 4.10: Schematic of pitot-static tube.
In the case of a small pressure dierence, an inclined manometer is often
used to increase the accuracy of the reading of / as shown in Figure 4.12.The
pressure dierence is still represented by j
0
q/. However,
/ = 1sin o. (4.10)
from Eq.(4.9),
j
t
j
c
= j
0
q1sin o. (4.11)
The resolution is thus much improved by measuring 1 instead of /.
4.2.2 Procedure
NOTE: Despite the crudity of the available measuring instruments, it is
possible to measure reasonably accurate velocity proles of the jet ow. In
this lab, you will be left more or less to your own devices as to how to make
satisfactory measurements. Proceed carefully and thoughtfully. How should
the coordinate system be set up? Is the Pitot-static tube aligned with mean
ow? How many data points are required for each prole? How far in
should measurements be made? Think.
1. Level and adjust the manometer to zero reading while the Pitot tube is
in still air. Note that the scale on the manometer is already in vertical
4.2 EXPERIMENT 71
Figure 4.11: Schematic of manometer.
inches (shudder) of water so Eq.(4.11) is not necessary. Convert these
measurements to cm for subsequent calculations.
2. Place the Pitot tube on the centerline of the exit of the nozzle, one
jet diameter (11) downstream. Turn on the blower (high speed with
no heating). Note the manometer displacement. Then, calculate and
mark the point on the manometer scale corresponding to 63% of the
total displacement.
3. Now estimate the time constant for the system by observing the re-
sponse to a step function in l. With a piece of paper, block the Pitot-
static tube openings so that the manometer reading is zero. Remove
the paper quickly. Watch the liquid movement in the manometer and
estimate the time constant using a stopwatch. Repeat ve times and
compute the average. Move the Pitot tube to r = 81. Repeat the test
again. Is there a dierence? Do you expect one? Report the results of
this test to a sta member during lab.
4. Move the Pitot tube back to r = 11, on the centerline of the jet, and
take a pressure reading (is it the same as in step 2?). Now measure
the response of the Pitot tube as a function of angle of incidence, c, to
the mean ow by rotating it about this point (the tip should remain
Figure 4.12: An inclined manometer.
at r = 11, on the centerline). Take enough data so that you can plot
l(c) for 0
_ c _ 60
. Think about how you would interpret the

data for both small and large c.
5. Measure and plot the velocity proles at r = 11, 61, 71 and 81. The
velocity proles will be plots of the mean streamwise velocity, l, vs. ,
the cross-stream location. Make sure you take enough points to clearly
measure the shape of the l() proles. Do not assume symmetry about
the centerline.
6. Re-plot the velocity proles measured at 61, 71 and 81 (not 11
(why not?)) by using the self-similar normalization method explained
in lecture note. Plot them all on the same graph. Are they self-similar?
i.e. do they collapse?. What is the physical signicance of this?
4.2.3 Testing Velocity Proles in Turbulent Jets for
Self-Similarity A Practical Guide
Dening a Coordinate System
First, let us clearly dene a sensible coordinate system for this ow as shown
in Figure 4.13. This is the usual way of doing it, and it is worth noting why
this is so. First, in this model of the ow, only two spatial dimensions are
considered. This includes both planar jets and axisymmetric jets. Whenever
4.2 EXPERIMENT 73
there is a mean ow, or most dominant ow component (in this case, the ow
along the jet axis), it is common to assign the r coordinate, and corresponding
n velocity component parallel to that direction. The ow measured is a time-
averaged component (owing to the relatively large time constant of the pitot
tube/manometer system), and so it is denoted l, rather than n. r is dened
parallel to the mean ow and the long axis of the jet exit nozzle, beginning
at the nozzle exit. Positive r moves in the direction of the ow, with positive
l. The remaining coordinate, , should be perpendicular to r. It has its
origin at the centerline, which is the line of symmetry of the jet. Note how
the coordinate system is xed with respect to the jet ow itself, and not to
some arbitrary laboratory reference.
The Mean Velocity Prole in a Turbulent Jet
The evolution of the jet ow at r 51~61 is thought to occur in a self-
similar fashion because turbulent velocity uctuations have had sucient
time to re-arrange the initial ow that further ow evolution occurs with only
pre-existing turbulence as its precursor. If this is true, then it ought to be
possible to renormalize any equivalent prole by local dimensional variables
so that they collapse onto one curve. In the coordinate system dened in
Figure 4.13, a velocity prole at r 51 looks like Figure 4.14.Note how
the symbols and units are dened clearly, and self-consistently on both axes,
Figure 4.14: Standard velocity prole for a turbulent jet.
how = 0 at the center, and how the data points are clearly shown. It is not
necessary to join up the dots with a line, since the data are not believed to be
completely free of measurement error and noise. In fact, it is not necessary
at this stage to make any attempt to t the prole, and points alone are just
ne. In a more sophisticated investigation, a model predicting some kind of
Gaussian t might be predicted, in which case a curve of this functional form
might be tted. For now, lacking any such detailed theory, the data points
can be left alone.
Figure 4.15 shows an example of two such l() velocity proles. The
r = 71 data look similar to the r = 61 data, except the maximum value
of l is lower, and the prole is a little broader. A moments thought shows
that conservation of momentum requires that the rst be accompanied by
the second.
Normalizing the Proles
In principle, the proles of Figure 4.15 should be rescaleable provided suitable
length and velocity scales can be found. A convenient measure of the local
4.2 EXPERIMENT 75
Figure 4.15: l() for r = 61 (circles) and 71 (squares).
velocity magnitude is simply the local maximum value, l
max
. l
max
is found
at the jet centerline for a ow with this symmetry. In fact the = 0 point
can be most accurately determined from l
max
. l
max
decays with increasing
downstream distance, r, and so the prole width increases with increasing
r. The coordinate might therefore be expected to rescale with r. But r
is somewhat arbitrarily dened by the end of the jet nozzle, which may not
really correspond to the beginning of the jet. Perhaps one can make a more
precise denition of the jet origin by extrapolating back from a measured
trend in the jet. Conceptually, imagine continuing the dotted lines in Figure
4.13, marking the edge of the jet, back to where they meet and the jet
has zero width. Now, how can one dene the edge of the jet? When the
proles have a shape such as Figure 4.14 and Figure 4.15, the edge is very
hard to dene precisely because l very gradually approaches zero, falling
eventually below the resolution of the measuring instrument. This cannot
be used as a criterion, because the resolution is xed (in m, s) while the
absolute magnitude of the prole steadily decreases with increasing r. It is
better, rather, to take some well-dened point, such as the so-called
1
2
point,
where l = l
max
,2, as shown in Figure 4.16.
Figure 4.16: Dening a local measure of the jet width in l().
This denes a length scale in , with units in cm, characterizing the local
jet width at each downstream location in r. Now the
1
2
length scale can
be plotted at each downstream location (in our experiment, there are three),
and the straight-line extrapolation back to
1
2
= 0 marks the point at which,
according to this measure, the jet has zero width.
Note how the r coordinate here has been normalized by the jet diameter.
This is unessential, but at the very least, takes care of the unit conversions
in a tidy way. Here, the virtual origin, r
0
, is at negative values of r as shown
in Figure 4.17, implying that the physical jet evolution began before the ow
leaves the nozzle. You might expect r
0
to be in the range [10. +10 cm].
Values outside this range should be treated with suspicion; they are taken
from extrapolating only 3 points, after all.
Having identied the virtual origin, the r coordinate can be re-expressed
in terms of downstream distance from this point,
r
= r r
0
.
Hence, at each downstream location (r = 61, 71, 81), a value of r
can
be calculated. Now, each of the three proles at these locations can be
4.2 EXPERIMENT 77
Figure 4.17: Location of the virtual origin, r
0
.
renormalized so that l is divided by l
max
and is divided by r
. The
predicted result of all this is shown in Figure 4.18. Note how the axes are
clearly labelled, in symbols, as dened in the text. Also, both axes are now
dimensionless. l,l
max
has a maximum value of 1, by denition, at ,r
= 0.
Make sure the units of and r
are the same before dividing. The ow evolves

slowly in r, and characteristic r
values will be larger then , so ,r
should
be a small number.
Finally. . .
This completes the procedure for making the normalized proles. They can
now be compared with each other, and with similar proles in the literature.
Examples will be given in class. Now, see if you can explain why any of this
matters. If someone says "So what?", what do you say? What is the physical
signicance?
4.2.4 Assignment: 3 Plots + Minitalk
The format for this weeks write-up is less formal than usual, and rests pri-
marily on the correct plotting of the data from the experiment. These plots
Figure 4.18: Self-similarity in turbulent jet proles.
will then be used as the basis for a minitalk. The minitalk will be a 5 minute
informal presentation given to a sta member. The grade will be based on
(i) the plots, (ii) the presentation, and (iii) a one paragraph abstract.
Plots
There are 3 pages of graphs that can be imagined to come from this ex-
periment. The rst is the response of the pitot tube to changes in angle of
incidence. The second would include raw velocity proles at all downstream
locations, where mean ow speed in m, s is plotted as a function of cross-
stream distance in cm or m. Finally, the last page would have normalized
plots for the far-downstream proles.
Make the plots carefully and think about each component, rather than
blindly accepting Excel (or equivalent) defaults. These will be the raw ma-
terials for your minitalk next week. Make sure that dierent symbols can be
readily identied, and that axes are labelled correctly, units are given, and
so on. Unlike in a report, where graph headings are superuous to the gure
caption, there is no caption in a graph used for a talk (one does not stand
4.2 EXPERIMENT 79
there and say to the audience, See Fig. 2) and so graph headings can be
useful.
Abstract
Write a one-paragraph abstract describing what you did and what the results
were. Include your name on the sheet of paper and staple it as a front page
to the graphs, which you will hand in after your talk.
Talk
You will have 5 minutes to give a one-on-one presentation of your results to a
sta member. The talk will be based only on the results. The raw materials
should be only the recommended plots discussed above. Since time is short,
it will be important to have a story line worked out in advance, and to stick
to it when the time comes. After 5 minutes your talk will be interrupted.
The sta member may ask questions during or after the talk. Time will be
added on to account for questions.
Grading
The total grade will be based on the graphs, abstract and talk, with a per-
centage breakdown of roughly 40 : 20 : 40. The key to success will be in
making clear and correct plots based on the data. Then the talk can be
clear, and so can the abstract.
it.
this we allow.
Chapter 5
LabVIEW Programming
5.1 Lab 1: Basic of LabVIEW Programming
5.1.1 Acquire a Voltage from Channel 0
LabVIEW DAQ Setup
1. Launch LabVIEW 2009 Select Blank VI save this VI under
E:/home/JStude/Your_own_folder and give a meaningful name
(not Untitled 1.vi).
2. Right-click in the Block Diagram under Measurement I/O se-
lect DAQmx-Data Acquisition select DAQ Assistant place
in your Block Diagram.
3. Select Acquire Signals Analog Input Voltage select ai0
click Finish.
4. Check Timing Settings Acquisition Mode select N Samples
select OK.
5. On DAQ Assistant create control inputs for sampling rate and
number of samples.
6. On DAQ Assistant create a Graph Indicator on the output of
data.
81
82 CHAPTER 5 LABVIEW PROGRAMMING
7. On the Front Panel right-click the control for rate and number of
samples and Replace with a Dial or Knob found under Express
place in proper location on the Front Panel.
Acquire Real-World Signal
1. Connect WaveformGenerator to both the DMMand ADCs Chan-
nel 0 input AI0.
2. Set reasonable input signal on Waveform Generator. Click on Run
Continuously button of LabVIEW Front Panel and observe the
output graph. This is a sanity check to ensure your hardware work
properly.
3. Click on Abort Execution to stop the program.
Analyze the Real-World Signal
1. Right-click in the Block Diagram under Express select Signal
Analysis select Statistics place in your Block Diagram.
2. Under Statistical Calculations select Arithmetic mean and
Standard deviation select OK.
3. Connect data output from DAQ Assistant to Signals input on Sta-
tistics and create Numeric Indicator on the outputs for Arithmetic
mean and Standard deviation.
4. On the Front Panel right-click the indicator for Arithmetic mean
and Replace with a Meter found under Express place in proper
location on the Front Panel.
5. Repeat step 4 for the Standard deviation indicator.
6. Create a user friendly Front Panel as shown in the example in Figure
5.1. Remember no good decision is left to default. Note: Dont worry
if you dont know how to make as good cosmetics work as shown in
Figure 5.1 in lab, but do practice at home to get familiar with it.
7. Dont forget to save your nal functional VI.
5.1 LAB 1: BASIC OF LABVIEW PROGRAMMING 83
Figure 5.1: Sample front panel of LabVIEW data acquisition.
Make Engineering Measurements
1. Click on the Run Continuously button and observe the Front Panel.
2. Make sysmatic measurements to get mean and standard deviation volt-
ages fromvarying the waveformgenerators input parameters and chang-
ing the ADCs sampling methods.
3. Make a table in your notebook to show input parameters, ADC sam-
pling parameters, and output voltages. Answer the following questions:
What does DC voltage depends on? Do you always get steady
value or when does it uctuate?
What is the relationship between standard deviation voltages and
AC voltages? What does AC voltage depends on? Do you always
get steady value or when does it uctuate?
What is your choice of input frequency? Why? What is your
choice of sampling frequency? Why?
What is the model number of our ADC card? What is its maxi-
mum sampling rate? How about its resolution?
Write down all your answers in your notebook, demonstrate the opera-
tional use of your VI and show the values of your measurements including
interpretation of dierent input /output responses to a sta and get a check
mark.
5.1.2 Construct a Digital Thermometer using LabVIEW
Construct an Algorithm for Digital Thermometer
1. Your goal is to make use of your knowledge from Heat Transfer
and Thermocouples lab to construct a digital thermometer using
LabVIEW. Since you already knew that thermocouples output emf
is proportional to the temperature surrounding the thermocouples
bead, you may use two known temperature readings (convenient to use
0
C and 100
C) to calibrate your digital thermometer disregard either

the sensitivity (or type) of thermocouples or the amplication from
OP-Amp circuit. This step is similar to Static Calibration in your
thermocouples lab, the dierence is you need only two data points to
do it. Therefore, this step is called Two-point Calibration.
2. Before you wire up any circuit or making any LabVIEW programming
you should formulate an algorithm to convert thermocouple output
voltages, c
c
, to temperature readings, 1, in unit of

C. In short, you are
constructing a formula to describe 1(c
c
). Do this on your notebook.
First draw a diagram of expected c
c
(1) vs 1 linear curve and then
make formula to show 1 as a function of c
c
with two known constant
values c
c(0
C)
(voltage output measured at 0
C) and c
c(100
C)
(voltage
output measured at 100
C). Show your work to a sta and get a check

mark.
Construct Thermocouples Setup with OP-Amp Amplication
1. Follow the same steps as in Heat Transfer and Thermocouples
lab to construct thermocouples setup with OP-Amp amplication as
shown in Figure 3.14.
2. Test with DMM to see if your output voltages are in the reasonable
ranges when thermocouples bead submerged into 0
C water and 100
C
water.
3. Keep monitoring with DMM. Add a new connection from the thermo-
couples output to ADCs Channel 0 input AI0.
Make a New VI to Acquire Thermocouples Output Voltage
1. Open a new Blank VI from LabVIEW 2009 save this VI under
E:/home/JStude/Your_own_folder and give a meaningful name
(not Untitled 2.vi).
2. Right-click in the Block Diagram under Measurement I/O se-
lect DAQmx-Data Acquisition select DAQ Assistant place
in your Block Diagram.
3. Select Acquire Signals Analog Input Voltage select ai0
click Finish.
4. Check Timing Settings Acquisition Mode select N Samples
select OK.
5. On DAQ Assistant create control inputs for sampling rate and
number of samples.
6. On DAQ Assistant create a Numeric Indicator on the output of
data.
7. Give proper input values to sampling rate and number of samples.
8. Click on the Run Continuously button and observe the Front Panel.
9. Measure two output voltages c
c(0
C)
C)
and c
c(100
C)
C) then write down their

values on your notebook.
10. Click on Abort Execution to stop the program.
Implement the Digital Thermometer Algorithm into LabVIEW
1. Implement your algorithm into your previous LabVIEW VI. Now
you may use the values of c
c(0
C)
and c
c(100
C)
as your Two-point
Calibration input constants and wire up DAQ Assistants output
as the input variable in your algorithm.
2. Construct your Front Panel as shown in Figure 5.2, which allows users
to enter two input constants c
c(0
C)
and c
c(100
C)
and make temperature
measurements from thermocouples then display the temperature read-
ings on the Front Panel. Also, add a warning light to your Front
Panel to indicate danger situations (like fever when a human body
temperature exceeds 37.5
C).
3. Click on the Run Continuously button and observe the Front Panel
to test your new device. Do the sanity check by measuring water tem-
perature at 0
C and 100
C.
4. Do some cosmetic work to your Front Panel, make sure all information
that you want to show is clear, sensible, organized and pretty.
6. Make a table in your notebook to show following measurements:
What is your ice water temperature?
What is your boiling water temperature?
What is our room temperature?
What is your body temperature? Does your Warning light go
on when temperature exceeds 37.5
C?
Write down all your answers in your notebook, demonstrate your func-
tional VI to a sta and get a check mark.
5.1.3 Homework Assignment:
Part 1: LabVIEW DAQ Setup and Measurements
1. Make a table in Excel to show your lab measurements and make good
use of that table to write a brief summary paragraphs that make sen-
sible comments to answer the following questions:
Figure 5.2: Sample LabVIEW digital thermometer Front Panel.
What does DC voltage depends on? Do you always get steady
value or when does it uctuate?
What is the relationship between standard deviation voltages and
AC voltages? What does AC voltage depends on? Do you always
get steady value or when does it uctuate?
What is your choice of input frequency? Why? What is your
choice of sampling frequency? Why?
What is the model number of our ADC card? What is its maxi-
mum sampling rate? How about its resolution?
Submit a hard copy of your work to lab next week.
Part 2: Digital Thermometer LabVIEW VI
At home, replace your LabVIEW DAQ with Dummy_DAQ_Assist.vi
provided under LabVIEW Docs on Blackboard, making sure that your
digital thermometer VI is still functional.. After you nish your cosmetic
work submit your nal version of digital thermometer LabVIEW VI to the
Assignment Drop Box on Blackboard as well as a hard copy of your
Front Panel and Block Diagram to your lab next week. Dont forget to
include your name as part of the le name. Again, make sure all information
that you want to show is clear, sensible, organized and pretty. This
eort should still be personal. So I expect your cosmetic work is dierent
than your lab partners or anyone else. Creativity is highly encouraged!
Part 3: Programming a Transducer Conversion Sub-VI
At the core of the automated jet program will be a part of a sequence that
samples a voltage at one analog input channel, and then converts it to a
velocity in units of m, s. This conversion problem can conveniently be iso-
lated and solved in a small LabVIEW VI. The debugged and functional
VI can then be converted into a sub-VI, by dening the connections on a
connector panel.
It is worth noting that the sub-VI can still be run as a standalone pro-
gram, with all its fancy Front Panel controls. This is a tremendous advan-
tage of LabVIEW over any other programming language.
The freestream velocity is directly related to the dynamic pressure, or the
dierence between total pressure, 1
t
, and static pressure, 1
c
,
n
2
=
2 (1
t
1
c
)
j
oiv
. (5.1)
for a given air density, j
oiv
.
The pressure transducer will give an output voltage that can be related
through the manufacturers calibrating curve to vertical inches of water. The
model used in our lab is made by Honeywell and its model number is
DRAL5(5 in H
2
C). You may search online to nd detail specications. This
pressure transducer has full range of 5 in H
2
C which outputs a voltage dif-
ference of 1.0 V to 6.0 V from 5 in H
2
C to +5 in H
2
C, respectively. At zero
pressure dierence, there is an oset voltage of 3.5 V output from transducer.
Step 1: Calculate a Conversion Factor(s) to go from Volts to Cen-
timeter of Water Let / be the vertical water height in cm. Then the
pressure dierence is,
1
t
1
c
= j
&
q/. (5.2)
where q is the acceleration due to Earth gravity, and j
&
is the density of
water. Combining Eq.(5.1) and Eq.(5.2),
n
2
=
2j
&
q/
j
oiv
. (5.3)
so / is simply multiplied by a constant, whose value can be calculated for a
given set of environmental conditions. Use the following table:
Physical Quantity Value Units
j
oiv
1.18 kg, m
3
j
&
998 kg, m
3
q 9.81 m, s
2
Note: STP at 20
C.
Step 2: Write a VI to Convert Transducer Volts into Velocity Con-
struct a LabVIEW VI to convert DRAL5 pressure transducer voltage into
ow velocity in m, s as shown in Figure 5.3.
Step 3: Convert LabVIEW VI into a Sub-VI
1. Right-click on the standard LabVIEW icon-rectangle in the top right
corner and select Show Connector.
2. The icon panel changes to a grid pattern with sub-rectangles, or panes,
for every input (Control) and every output (Indicator). By default,
inputs are on the left, outputs are on the right. Youi have one of each
type, and so there ought to be two panes in the connector. To begin
with, both panes will be clear, or white in color.
3. Note that the cursor changes to the wiring tool. Click on the left pane,
move to the input control on either Front Panel or Block Diagram
Figure 5.3: Sample owmeter.
and click again. The pane is lled with a dark reddish brownish color
when a successful connection has been made. Do the same thing for
the right side pane, wiring it up to the output.
4. Right-click again on the connector pane and select Edit Icon to make
a custom icon for your new sub-VI.
5. Again, make sure all information that you want to show is clear, sen-
sible, organized and pretty. This eort should still be personal. So I
expect your cosmetic work is dierent than your lab partners or anyone
else. Creativity is highly encouraged!
7. After you nish your cosmetic work submit your nal version of digital
owmeter LabVIEW VI to the Assignment Drop Box on Black-
5.2 LAB 2: FURTHER ADVENTURES IN LABVIEW 91
board as well as a hard copy of your Front Panel and Block Dia-
gram to your lab next week
it.
this we allow.
5.2 Lab 2: Further Adventures in LabVIEW
5.2.1 Stepper Motor Control and Simple Data Acqui-
sition
This afternoon will be an exercise in LabVIEW programming that will again
require full concentration and willingness to experiment and learn. The proof
of success at each stage will be in a demo of a functioning program to a sta
member. Motors will run and lights will ash, so get the checkmarks as you
proceed.
Part 1: motor.vi: Basic Stepper Motor Control
The stepper motors in the 341 lab are controlled directly by mysterious black
boxes produced by Anaheim Automation. The function of these controller
boxes is to perform the elementary step control timing so that simple com-
mand strings can be used to determine complete event sequences. This re-
lieves the main computer CPU from the tedious and unimaginative business
of basically going [up..count..down..count..] many thousands of times (PWM
signals). The command strings are ASCII coded sequences, with short letter
codes, followed by numbers. The rst example LabVIEW program, mo-
tor.vi, generates these control codes and sends them to the motor controller
through the serial port.
1. Start up LabVIEW and open motor.vi [in User Libraries], its
Front Panel is shown in Figure 5.4. Make sure the Anaheim controller
box is turned on, and that the serial cable is connected. Run the
program (in single-shot mode [Run], NOT (Never, ever) continuous
loop [Run Continuously]), just as it is, with default values for the
inputs. If the motor does not turn smoothly, alert a sta member. If it
does, then ddle with the front panel controls and see what happens.
2. Open up the Block Diagram of motor.vi. Take a deep breath.
Note how the serial port output is done by a single VI (Serial Port
Write.vi), you may double-click the VI icon to view the details inside
if you are curious about how it works.
3. Switch back to the Front Panel, and Run motor again. Examine the
output string that is reported. This is the string that is sent to the
motor controller. It actually does 8 things. Look up these 8 things
in the Anaheim Program Reference Manual provided, and write them
down in the checklist table below. Copy the checklist table to your
Figure 5.4: A simple stepper motor controller.
notebook and get your rst checkmark of the week from a sta member.
Command Substring Function
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Part 2: Calibrated Stepper Motor Control with Kill Switch
When moving devices by stepper motor, there are several basic considerations
that are common to almost all practical set-ups. We will consider two here.
The rst concern is in making simple conversions from number of steps in the
motor to some physical variable, such as distance traveled (linear bearing), or
angle swept (telescope). The second consideration is some kind of emergency
cut-o system when the device is reaching the end of its physical range.
Failure to stop a device from powering through these limits could be very
costly. The objective of this part of the lab is to make a VI that moves a
device through a pre-determined distance, and that also stops when some
cuto condition is encountered.
1. Simply from the Front Panel of motor.vi, you can see that the motor
operation is controlled by 5 inputs three slider bars, a numeric panel
and one Boolean logic switch. This motor.vi can either be used as a
stand-alone program or be converted into a sub-VI. Your task is to use
motor.vi as a sub-VI (just like a subroutine or function in regular-
programming) to construct your own custom VI that moves a device a
certain distance (either forwards, or backwards) through stepper motor
control. If a kill switch is closed, then stop. The Front Panel may
look something like Figure 5.5. Note that we keep the axis selection
switch on the Front Panel, even though it will always be set equal to
zero for this lab (single axis).
2. First, think about the program logic a little. The kill switch value
will be sampled at channel 0 of the LabVIEW DAQ. If the voltage
exceeds some threshold value, then . . . well, do nothing, except maybe
light up a warning light. Otherwise, move a certain number of steps by
sending the appropriate control string to the motor.
3. Open up a new VI, and save it immediately in E:/home/JStude/.
This makes subsequent save operations fast, which makes them more
likely to happen, which makes it less likely for big disasters will happen.
4. Start o by laying out the main control function. The [if x [do this]
else [do that]] kind of construction is handled quite elegantly by the
Case Structure in LabVIEW. It works pretty much the same way
as the CASE/case statements in Fortran & C. Drag it into the Block
Figure 5.5: Motor control with kill switch.
Diagram. Heres a simple example of how it works as in Figure 4. Note
that the expression on the left is evaluated. According to the result,
which is wired into the [?] box, one of several frames is evaluated.
Here, since 0 1 is false, the [do this] code is executed. The other
possibility is shown in Figure 4.Here, since 2 1, so the contents of the
[True] frame are executed. Switch between the two alternatives with
the little sideways arrows. Now you should be able to make a version
that does what you need. It will depend on a voltage read operation
from channel 0 of the LabVIEW DAQ.
5. Test that it works, by reading a simple voltage value (arrange this
yourself, using the equipment available in lab) and lighting up a light
on the front panel if it exceeds some threshold value. Note that there
will be two case possibilities [true/false], while there will probably be
only one button to light on the front panel. Which frame should the
light go on? Neither. Put it outside the frame, on the right. To connect
values from inside the frame to outside now requires you to cross the
boundary. This is ok. LabVIEWmakes a so-called "Tunnel" for you.
You may also use True Constant or False Constant in Boolean
operator to control the warning light.
6. Now, in the appropriate frame, insert the motor.vi, and appropriate
controls, including magic constants and simple arithmetic to convert
cm into motor number of steps. An input in units of cm will be
converted to number of motor steps, most likely by multiplication by
some magic constant (What units would this constant have? How do
you nd it?). For initial testing, set this constant equal to one, and
when all the VI logic is correct, put in the correct value (after having
successfully worked out how to nd that correct value, of course).
7. Test your VI, and measure the traverses true moving distances at
two pre-determined distances. Write down your measurements in your
notebook.
8. Well, that seems to be that then. . . or is it? Whats wrong with this
design? How would you x it? Demonstrate your functional VI as well
as your measurements and answers the above questions to a sta and
get a check mark.
Kill switch ________________ (check)
Forward/backward ___________ (check)
Design weakness ___________________
Possible solution ____________________
Part 3: Moving and Sampling: Principles of Automation
Now we wish to write a control program that combines stepper motor control
with data acquisition, in preparation for Jets II lab the automated version
of the turbulent jets experiment. The objective is to write a VI whose Front
Panel might look something like Figure 5.6.
Figure 5.6: Example Front Panel for combined data acquisition (graph on
right) and motor control (top left box).
In Figure 5.6, the top left part is clearly just a re-arranged copy of the
previous part. The right part is a display of a waveform of some kind, and
the bottom left box controls the overall loop. The middle box displays the
total distance moved, based on input values for distance/step and number of
iterations.
1. Use [Save as..] to make a new VI name, and work on this.
2. Think about the program control again. We want a VI that will move
a device to a certain location, take some data, and then move on again,
all the while checking the kill switch. Note that the operations move-
sample-move-sample and so on... must be in a specic sequence (out-of-
order dataow control will not be convenient). The outer loop control,
where the basic operation is repeated n times can most conveniently be
done with a For Loop. It is probably most convenient to leave this step
till last, but remember, after checking that step#5 in this list denitely
positively always works for sure, then you will want to enclose the whole
lot in a giant for loop. By contrast, enforcing sequential operation of
the move-sample operations requires a new Structure, the Sequence,
which has no simple equivalent in programming languages that are
sequential by default.
3. Enlarge the Block Diagram window, and the Case Structure in-
side, so there is some room round the borders for new stu. Select
a Sequence Structure and lay it out so that it encloses the motor
control commands, inside the existing case frame. Right click on the
Sequence border and [Add frame after]. Operations that are put in
this second frame in the Sequence will execute only after the rst as
in Figure 5.7.
Figure 5.7: Sequence frames of a Structure in LabVIEW Block Dia-
gram.
4. Use another standard LabVIEW DAQ to sample a time sequence to
channel 1. Put this VI in the second frame of the sequence. For now,
send signals from Waveform Generator to the ADC box. Use a
Waveform Graph in the Front Panel to display the result.
5. Were done! Or are we? Remember that the stepper motor control
works by sending a command string out to the controller box, and
then immediately returning to the main program. The stepper motor
may well still be moving when control returns and we move on to the
next program step. Consequently, a time delay must be inserted
immediately after the motor control commands i.e. in Frame 0 of
the Sequence. Figure 5.8 shows a schematic of the required timing.
Clearly the wait time depends on how long it takes the motors to run.
Select and wire up the [Wait (ms)] function to do this. The wait
period required is proportional to the number of steps and the steps/sec
setting. Calculate the correct value (in ms) and use this to control the
timer. Add a 0.5 second increment for safety. Check the functioning of
your program carefully at this point, before moving on.
Figure 5.8: Schematic of the required timing on dierent steps.
6. Demonstrate your newgizmo by sampling a sequence of dierent, recog-
nizable functions from the function generator. You should be able to
move the motor n times to a new location, sample a voltage on channel
1 and display the result. Collect the checkmark from a sta member.
7. Finally, dont forget to save your nal version VI.
5.2.2 Homework Assignment:
At home, replace your LabVIEWDAQwith Dummy_KS.vi and Dummy_PT.vi
provided under LabVIEW Docs on Blackboard, making sure that your
Move-N-Sample VI is still functional.
Now that your VI can perform move and sample tasks, its often useful
to record your samples of data to a spreadsheet. Make use of the Lab-
VIEW Search and Help features to nd appropriate sub-VIs to build and
save your spreadsheet. Before running your VI, remember to choose proper
Sampling rate and Number of Samples. The output spreadsheet should
record a table of the following data: Kill Switch On/O, Current Dis-
tance Travelled in cm, Analyzed Results from Dummy_PT.vi. Set
your VI to move a total of 10 cm with 1 cm per step and Run your VI.
After you nish your cosmetic work submit your nal version of move-n-
sample LabVIEW VI to the Assignment Drop Box on Blackboard as
well as a hard copy of your Front Panel, Block Diagram, and Spread-
sheet to your lab next week. Dont forget to include your name as part of
the le name. Again, make sure all information that you want to show is
clear, sensible, organized and pretty. This eort should still be personal.
So I expect your cosmetic work is dierent than your lab partners or anyone
else. Creativity is highly encouraged!
5.3 LAB3: AUTOMATEDSAMPLINGOF TURBULENTJETFLOWS101
it.
this we allow.
5.3 Lab 3: Automated Sampling of Turbu-
lent Jet Flows
Now that we have accumulated some LabVIEW programming experience,
it can be put to work by doing something useful. Next lab, the Turbulent
Jets experiment will be revisited, but with two twists: it is your own project
design and it is an automated version, with superior instrumentation that
you know how to modify and calibrate.
This afternoon you will be making the nal modications to your Move&Sample.vi
from last week to adapt to your Turbulent Jets II lab next week. They in-
clude:
1. Checking the distance calibration for traverse motion.
2. Writing and checking a standalone owmeter that uses your pressure
transducer conversion VI to report ow speeds in m, s.
3. Incorporating the Flowmeter into Move&Sample.vi.
4. Include the Standard Deviation output fromFlowmeter.vi, to mea-
sure ow velocity uctuations.
5. Record your samples of data to a spreadsheet and save a output le.
The objective is to make velocity measurements in some kind of a turbu-
lent jet experiment, and it is important to realize that all these programming
tricks and niceties are means to an end. The end result should be good qual-
ity velocity proles that can be compared with each other, or with reference
material in the research literature.
5.3.1 Part 1: Check Calibration Constants
1. Make use of your knowledge from previous LabVIEW labs to create a
new standalone Traverse.vi as in Figure 5.9. Traverse.vi is a generic
program to move a linear traverse through a calibrated distance.
Figure 5.9: Front panel for generic Traverse.vi
2. Note the kill switch voltage threshold for your traverse setup and set
its value appropriately to ensure your Traverse.vi is fully functional.
3. Each setup needs to be calibrated, in both r and directions. Calculate
the steps, cm constants, C
a
and C
j
, then use it to demonstrate motion
along each axis. Fill in the rst table in the checklist below and copy
it onto your notebook. Are the constants dierent for the dierent
directions? Take several measurements of each one, calculate the mean
and standard deviation to answer this question.
4. After you nish your new VI construction, run Traverse.vi to check
the traverse motion in each direction, taking extreme care not to exceed
travel limits. Alert a sta member if there are set-up problems.
5. Checkllist for your Traverse.vi,
Value Unit
Distance selected in r
C
a
=
r Distance moved
Distance selected in
C
j
=
Distance moved
C
a
= C
j
?
Conclusion
5.3.2 Part 2: Make a Standalone Flow Meter
1. Make use of your knowledge from previous LabVIEW labs to create
a new standalone ow meter, Flowmeter.vi, and test it qualitatively
in the jet ow with the real instrument.
2. Display the converted result on a meter as shown in Figure 5.10.
3. Check that Flowmeter.vi works and use it to read the jet exit velocity,
l
cait
( m, s). Use this value to calculate a ow Reynolds number.
4. Copy the checklist below for ow meter onto your notebook and get a
Figure 5.10: Front Panel of a generic ow meter.
check mark from a sta member.
High velocity setting Low velocity setting
Value Unit Value Unit
l
1
l
1
n
0
1
n
0
1
Re
1
Re
1
5.3.3 Part 3: Modifying and Testing your Customized
Jets.vi
Some simple modications to your Move&Sample.vi program from last
week can be made to run this experiment. Heres the Front Panel view of
what a generic Jet.vi program might look like in Figure 5.11.
1. Open your existing VIs and use [Save as..] to start the modied version.
Figure 5.11: Front Panel of a generic traverse-mover and pressure trans-
ducer data-gatherer.
2. Add the voltage-velocity conversion sub-VI so that mean and standard
deviation are both converted to some velocity component in m, s. The
standard deviation value will need to be adjusted by the resting voltage
oset for the result to make sense in the conversion routine.
3. At each step through the prole (iteration round the For-Loop), com-
pile an array that will probably have 3 elements: the location, l and
n
0
. Compile a cumulative 21 array by sending the 11 array values
across the right edge of the For-Loop. (Recall the general rule: inputs
on left, outputs on right. Send inputs to loops through the left margin,
and take outputs from the right.)
4. Add a VI to output the data to a spreadsheet le. Wire up the 21
terminal to the data.
5. The Jet program should now be complete.
6. Checklist for Jet.vi
Traverse motion ____________(check)
Kill switch ________________ (check)
Data acquisition ____________ (check)
File I/O __________________ (check)
5.3.4 Part 4: Obtain and Analyze l() Proles Across
a Turbulent Jet
1. Design and implement an experimental investigation of some aspect of
the turbulent jet.
2. Decide on the locations in r where you wish to make l() proles.
Think ahead.
3. Use your versions of Traverse.vi and Flowmeter.vi to control the
motion and check the ow in real-time. Then make selected proles
using Jet.vi.
4. Plot the proles in Excel as you get them, checking both mean and
standard deviation values. Name the output les as
some_name_that_make_sense.xlsx
so it indicates the function of program, the creator of program, and
Excel is the default format. Make sure the data is sucient for your
particular requirements.
5.3.5 Part 5: Prepare for the Talk
1. Your data should be quite good, certainly compared with manual mea-
surements, and probably even better when compared with literature
data. Make sure that, whatever your project, there is some compara-
tive aspect of your work, either with existing literature or with previous
data, within your own experiment.
5.4 LAB 4: TURBULENT JETS II 107
2. Try to put this laboratory work in a broad context by comparison with
other applications. Credit will be given to those who can locate and
include appropriate information from specic real-world applications.
This does not mean vague references to sewage outows at Hyperion,
but should have some numerical details of a specic ow.
3. Remember, the focus of your talk is on turbulent jets, and not Lab-
VIEW programming. Include only those experimental details that are
necessary to specify the physical experiment and the data acquisition
strategy. Do not show LabVIEW block diagrams in the talk.
4. Dene your coordinate system and variable names explicitly and care-
fully. Avoid all references to vague concepts such as position or
velocity.
5. Each talk will be 10 minutes in length. The talk will be given on a
lab station or your laptop computer using PowerPoint which will be
projected onto a big screen in lab.
5.4 Lab 4: Turbulent Jets II
5.4.1 Additional Notes for Measuring Turbulent Jets
Design and conduct an experiment involving ow measurement in tur-
bulent jets.
Compare results with something: Jets I, literature values, . . .
Evaluate and discuss in broad context, with specic example applica-
tions.
As shown in Figure 5.12, the velocity components in r. are n. ,
and
n(r. . t) = l (r. ) + n
0
(r. . t) . (5.4)
where l is mean, time-averaged value of the ow velocity, and n
0
is the
uctuation of the ow. If we can get multiple velocity measurements at the
same location, the mean ow velocity can be calculated from the average
value of all measurements while ow uctuation can be calculated from the
standard deviation value of the same measurements.
Possible topics:
Compare with paper fromS.C. Crow, P.H. Champagne (r,1 = 0.025. 2. 4. 6. 8)
Compare with paper from G. Xu, R.A. Antonia (various r,1 including
0)
Low speed vs. high speed
With, and without heat (correction of j)
l and n
0
vs. r,1 at xed , or at cones of constant l,l
max
Jet ow, near, or around an obstacle.
Thermocouple measurements.
Twin turbulent jets
5.4.2 Special Lab Rules for Turbulent Jets II Lab
The basic philosophy behind the Turbulent Jets II lab is very dierent from
the standard setup. Each group assumes the ENTIRE responsibility for
designing, running and checking the experiment during the afternoon. There
are no instructions to follow, except your own.
5.4 LAB 4: TURBULENT JETS II 109
Because the time is so unregulated, here are some simple rules that we
will abide by during this lab. They will help the lab run smoothly, will help
make it fair for all and may prevent some kind of predictable catastrophe.
1. The lab will open at 1:00pm and will close down at 5:30pm. No excep-
tions. There is no late penalty for showing up after 1:00pm; there is
no penalty for leaving early, either. Do what you have to do to make
the experiment and check the results. There is no possibility to oer
additional lab hours to anyone if any group cannot nish their data
acquisition during lab or lost their data at home. You must be done by
5:30pm in your own lab day.
2. The purpose of the sta is NOT to help you build your experiment
or LabVIEW VIs. They are on hand to provide assistance and
advice. Each group is completely responsible for making plans to get
the experiment up and running, and doing it.
3. You may wish to run your pitot tube long distances, say 20 cm, between
taking proles composed of multiple short steps. Do not smash the kill
switches by entering a large distance into your Jet.vi. It is quite useful
to have a program like Traverse.vi sitting around, so you can move
the apparatus independent of your main fancy program.
4. For similar reasons, it is quite handy to have Flowmeter.vi sitting
around. You may get an instantaneous ow velocity reading of the
measured jet whenever you need it.
5. Do not run multiple LabVIEW VIs simultaneously. Remember, they
compete for the same hardware, and results may be unpredictable.
Similarly, you may run VBench, if you wish, but not the same time
as LabVIEW itself.
6. Check the results BEFORE leaving lab. Check them carefully. No
repeat experiments will be permitted!
7. At the end of lab, your workstations must be as you found it. with all
custom items removed and dismantled. The station should be ready
for the next days operations after youve done your clean-up work.

AME341b 2010 Lecture&amp Lab Notes Jerry

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AME341B

. Apply the excitation voltage \ to

. Under this condition, the bridge is said to be balanced.

and observe the response when 1

changes due to applied strain, c

as long as the resistance of 1

C and the other end has temperature 100

C and the other end has temperature 100

C intervals between 0 and 100

C or so. Do the data points agree with your previous

C, that of boiling water will be 100

, as described in further detail in the lab handout. The proles

. Think about how you would interpret the

are the same before dividing. The ow evolves

values will be larger then , so ,r

C) to calibrate your digital thermometer disregard either

C). Show your work to a sta and get a check

C water and 100

C) then write down their

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