A Cylindrical Vehicle-Mounted Anemometer Based on 12 Pressure Sensors—Principle, Prototype Design, and Validation

Vehicle wind speed measurement has always been a vital issue when assessing the aerodynamic performance of a high-speed train in cross winds. Conventional anemometers are not applicable in the extreme environment caused by trains. In this paper, a new wind speed measurement method is proposed, and a cylindrical anemometer to simultaneously measure the wind speed and direction is presented. The instrument consists of a cylinder with 12 evenly distributed holes that connect to 12 differential pressure sensors. Thus, the pressure distribution developed by the wind on the lateral surface of the cylinder is obtained. Then, theoretical relations among three neighboring pressure maxima and the wind speed and wind direction are formulated and validated with a wind tunnel test, where the fabricated anemometer is rotated at 10° intervals under a wind speed of 5–60 m/s. Field tests are conducted to assess the environmental adaptability of the proposed anemometer. The experimental results show that the proposed method and developed anemometer can be applied for air flow measurements and have high accuracy, reliability, and durability.