MEMS-based skin friction sensors are used to measure and validate skin friction and its distribution, and their advantages of small volume, high reliability, and low cost make them very important for vehicle design. Aiming at addressing the accuracy problem of skin friction measurements induced by existing errors of sensor fabrication and assembly, a novel fabrication technology based on visual alignment is presented. Sensor optimization, precise fabrication of key parts, micro-assembly based on visual alignment, prototype fabrication, static calibration and validation in a hypersonic wind tunnel are implemented. The fabrication and assembly precision of the sensor prototypes achieve the desired effect. The results indicate that the sensor prototypes have the characteristics of fast response, good stability and zero-return; the measurement ranges are 0–100 Pa, the resolution is 0.1 Pa, the repeatability accuracy and linearity are better than 1%, the repeatability accuracy in laminar flow conditions is better than 2% and it is almost 3% in turbulent flow conditions. The deviations between the measured skin friction coefficients and numerical solutions are almost 10% under turbulent flow conditions; whereas the deviations between the measured skin friction coefficients and the analytical values are large (even more than 100%) under laminar flow conditions. The error resources of direct skin friction measurement and their influence rules are systematically analyzed.

Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) skin friction sensors are considered to be promising sensors in hypersonic wind tunnel experiments owing to their miniature size, high sensitivity, and stability. Aiming at the problem of short test duration (a few milliseconds) and heavy load in a shock wind tunnel, the fast readout circuit and the sensor head structures of a MEMS skin friction sensor are presented and optimized in this work. The sensor was fabricated using various micro-mechanical processes and micro-assembly technology based on visual alignment. Meanwhile, the sensor head structure was integrated with the fast readout circuit and tested by using a centrifugal force equivalent method. The calibration results show that this sensor provides good linearity, sensitivity, and stability. The measurement ranges are 0–2000 Pa with good performance. The resolution is better than 10 Pa at 3000 Hz detection frequency of the readout circuit for the sensor in ranges from 0 to 1000 Pa. In addition, the repeatability and linearity of static calibration for sensors are better than 1%.

The skin friction of a hypersonic vehicle surface can account for up to 50% of the total resistance, directly affecting the vehicle’s effective range and load. A wind tunnel experiment is an important and effective method to optimize the aerodynamic shape of aircraft, and Micro-Electromechanical System (MEMS) skin friction sensors are considered the promising sensors in hypersonic wind tunnel experiments, owing to their miniature size, high sensitivity, and stability. However, the sensitive structure including structural appearance, a gap with the package shell, and flatness of the sensor will change the measured flow field and cause the accurate measurement of friction resistance. Aiming at the influence of sensor-sensitive structure on wall-flow characteristics and friction measurement accuracy, the two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical models of the sensor in the hypersonic flow field based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are presented respectively in this work. The model of the sensor is verified by using the Blathius solution of two-dimensional laminar flow on a flat plate. The results show that the sensor model is in good agreement with the Blathius solution, and the error is less than 0.4%. Then, the influence rules of the sensitive structure of the sensor on friction measurement accuracy under turbulent flow and laminar flow conditions are systematically analyzed using 3D numerical models of the sensor, respectively. Finally, the sensor-sensitive unit structure’s design criterion is obtained to improve skin friction’s measurement accuracy.