Design, development and application of a solid-state laser Doppler velocimeter

This aim of this thesis is to design and develop an anemometer for measuring the velocity field in hydro-dynamic bearings. Hydro-dynamic bearings use an oil film to provide a low friction flow between two surfaces of different speeds. The oil film thickness is of the order of 50|im to 100|im which makes the measurement of the flow difficult. Although there are many different types of anemometers, a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) was selected based on the following reasons: they operate non-intrusively so that there is no disturbance to the flow being measured; the spatial resolution of LDVs can be reduced to dimensions less than 10|im by suitable optics.