Techsburg Inc. employs drilled elbow probe in cascade research

A Techsburg team designed and constructed a model turbine cascade of blades to measure the total pressure loss and the flow turning. A drilled elbow probe as shown in the Figure below was traversed across one pitch.

Typical results are shown in the plots below. The first plot shows the average total pressure drop across a particular turbine blade at different Reynolds number. The Techsburg team concluded that laminar separation causes the increase in loss at low Reynolds numbers. This is a significant problem with modern engines flying at high altitudes. The second plot shows actual probe data from a traverse across a single blade. The sudden rise in total pressure drop is the wake from the blade.