Hot-wire anemometry for superfluid turbulent coflows

Abstract : We report the first evidence of an enhancement of the heat transfer from a heated wire to an external turbulent coflow of superfluid helium. We used a standard Pt-Rh hot-wire anemometer and overheat it up to 21 K in a pressurized liquid helium turbulent round jet at temperatures between 1.9 K and 2.12 K. The null-velocity response of the sensor can be satisfactorily modeled by the counterflow mechanism, while the extra cooling produced by the forced convection is found to scale similarly as the corresponding extra cooling in classical fluids. We propose a preliminary analysis of the response of the sensor and show that—contrary to a common assumption—such sensor can be used to probe local velocity in turbulent superfluid helium.