Measurement of near-wall 3D flow velocity from wave-guiding micro-pillars.

The measurement of near-wall flow in a plane close to the wall is achieved using the wave-guiding feature of transparent flexible micro-pillars which are attached in a 2D array to a surface and bend with the flow. Optical detection of bending from below the surface and application of auto-correlation methods provide mean and fluctuating part of the components of the wall-parallel velocity components. In addition, the wall-normal fluid motion is determined from spatial gradients in the array. The data provide the three-component velocity vector field in a plane close to the wall as well as their statistics.