This work presents the experimental study of the flow generated in the wakes of three three-dimensional bumps in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel. The three bumps examined are named bump 1, small bump 3, and large bump 3, and are the same test cases studied by Byun et al. (2004) and Ma and Simpson (2004) with a LDV system and a quad-wire hot-wire probe, respectively. Various experimental methods are used in this work: For measuring the mean velocity component in the planes examined, a seven-hole pressure probe is used with the data reduction algorithm developed by Johansen et al. (2001). A sixteen-hole pressure rake is used for boundary layer data on the sidewalls and ceiling of the test section and a Pitot-static probe is used to obtain mean velocity magnitude in the centerline of the test section. Specific techniques are developed to minimize the uncertainties due to the apparatus used, and an uncertainty analysis is used to confirm the efficiency of these techniques.

Measurements in the wake of bump 1 reveal a strong streamwise vorticity creating large amounts of high moment fluid entrained close to the wall. In the wake of small bump 3, the amount of high momentum fluid entrained close to the wall is small as well as the streamwise vorticity. The flow in the wake of large bump 3 incorporate the characteristics of the two previous bumps by having a relatively large entrainment of high momentum fluid close to the wall and a low generation of streamwise vorticity. In the wakes of the three bumps, a pair of counter rotating vortices is created. The influence of large bump 3 on the incoming flow-field is found to be significant and induces an increase of the boundary layer thickness.

By comparing LDV data and quad-wire hot-wire data with seven-hole probe data in the wakes of the bumps at the same locations, it is shown that uncertainties defined for a quasi-steady, non-turbulent flow-field without velocity gradient are bad indicators of the magnitude of the uncertainties in a more complex flow-field. A theoretical framework is discussed to understand the effects of the velocity gradient and of turbulence on the pressures measured by the seven-hole probe. In this fashion, a model is proposed and validated to explain these effects. It is observed that the main contribution to the uncertainties in seven-hole probe measurements due to the velocity gradient and to the turbulence comes from the velocity gradient.

To correct for the effects of the velocity gradient on seven-hole probe measurements in an unknown flow-field, a technique is proposed. Using an estimation of the velocity gradient calculated from the seven-hole probe, the proposed model could be used to re-evaluate non-dimensional pressure coefficients used in the data reduction algorithm therefore correcting for the effects of the velocity gradient on seven-hole probe measurements.