Experimental Analysis of a Waveguide Pressure Measuring System

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An infinite-line probe is commonly used to measure unsteady pressure in high-temperature environments while protecting the pressure transducer. In this study, an existing theoretical model is used to derive the response of a waveguide pressure measuring system. An ambient temperature centrifugal compressor rig acts as an experimental source of fluctuating pressure. The compressor is operated at different discrete rotational speeds, and the blade-passing frequencies are used to obtain frequency response data. In the experiments, pressure waves attenuated at a rate faster than that predicted by the theoretical model for a 0.322 m (12 in.) sensor offset. Furthermore, the decay in the magnitude of the pressure oscillations accelerated at blade-passing frequencies above 9 kHz. A unique contribution of this study is to show that whereas the experimentally observed overall attenuation is broadly consistent with the theoretical predictions, pressure oscillations corresponding to individual blade passages may be disproportionally attenuated.

©2010 American Society of Mechanical Engineers