RP-986 -- Determining the Influence of Turbulence Intensity on the Performance of Rotating Vane Anemometers - Phase I

The main objective of this project was to determine the influence of various levels of turbulence intensity on the ability of rotating vane anemometers to accurately measure average air speed. Rotating vane anemometers are used to measure the velocity of gases or liquids in many engineering applications, especially in field applications such as air velocity measurement for HVAC testing and balancing.

This research project consists of two phases. The first phase was to set up a laboratory test facility to generate the appropriate levels of turbulence, and then verify that the desired levels were achieved by making accurate measurements of the free stream air speed and turbulence intensity using a hot-film anemometer.

The second phase involved the actual testing of two different sizes of rotating vane anemometers, a nominal 4" diameter unit and a nominal 1 3/8" diameter unit. This project tested the two rotating vane anemometers at six different air speeds.