Detection and measurement of the inverse axial flow by means of the flying hot wire technique

In the reviewed literature about swirling flows through ducts of circular cross section, there are contradictions regarding the detection and measurement of the inverse axial flow generated in the center of a swirling flow. The main motivation for this investigation was to determine the existence of the inverse flow and the feasibility of measuring it by the flying hot wire technique using unidimensional and bidimensional hot wires driven with an intermittent linear servomotor with a maximum velocity of 2 m/s and with a distance trip of 0.595 m. The inverse flow was detected with both sensors but it was not constant during the maximum speed trip. The maximum speed and the duration of the inverse flow was obtained with the unidimensional sensor up to a radial position of 3 cm, although the axial position in which the inverse flow is detected, it is not the same in every radial position. Therefore, it is not possible to make a radial distribution of the axial velocity using only one sensor. Finally, in the center of the swirling flow there is an intermittent inverse flow similar to the recirculating flow that is generated in the wake of a body in relative motion to the fluid mass.