A three-hot-wire anemometer for measuring two velocity components in high intensity turbulent boundary layers

Describes a hot-wire anemometer with three wires, for measuring two-component velocity statistics in a turbulent boundary layer. The three wires are all in the plane parallel to the direction of mean flow. A numerical error analysis and experimental tests show that this probe gives a significant improvement over the conventional two-wire X probe, and the shear stress can be measured within 10% for turbulent intensities <or=0.42. The effect of a skewed velocity distribution is also explored numerically, showing marked improvements in accuracy when the distribution of streamwise velocity, u, is positively skewed, but serious errors if it is negatively skewed.