Piezoelectric Skin-Friction-Force Transducer

A two component piezoelectric skin-friction force transducer has been developed for a hypersonic flow tunnel which has a run time of approximately 70 milliseconds. Skin-friction forces acting on a sensing diaphragm are transferred to a transducer element which is constructed of lead zirconate titanate composition ceramic beams. The transducer converts a force into two charge signals which correspond to orthogonal components of the force parallel to the skin-friction force sensing diaphragm. The diameter of the sensing element is 0.940 inch and the overall transducer dimensions are 1 inch diameter and 0.625 inch high.